Posted: September 13th, 2022

What evidence supports and what fails to support the notion that gender identity is biologically determined?

What evidence supports and what fails to support the notion that gender identity is biologically determined?
Gender identity is a very complex subject. With all the definitions, approaches, and theories seeking to explain the source and the nature of gender identity comes a lot of confusion. Often, you will come across the notion that gender identity is a biological construct. But what does that really mean? Sex is the biological difference between males and females. During birth, a child is assigned either male or female based on the anatomy such as hormones, chromosomes, and genitals. Gender identity, on the other hand, refers to the inherent and deep-felt sense of being male or female.
Most people identify with a gender that rhymes with their sex, but this is not always the case. Individuals who identify with a gender different from their assigned sex are termed as transgenders. But the biological approach suggests that there is no difference between sex and gender. Therefore, biological sex is responsible for creating the typical male or female behaviors and characteristics. According to the biological approach to gender identity, gender is determined by two key biological factors: hormones and chromosomes.
Hormones
Hormones are chemical substances produced by glands within the body. Testosterone is a sex hormone found in males and is responsible for development and behavior before and after birth. Testosterone is released during pregnancy and is responsible for the development of the male organs and also impacts the hypothalamus causing the masculinization of the brain. On the other hand, females have sex hormone progesterone, which is also responsible for the development of the female organs during fetal growth. Progesterone also acts on the brain producing the typical naturing behavior in females.
Chromosomes
Chromosomes are long structures in the body that contain thousands of genes. There are 23 pairs of chromosomes in the normal human body, and each pair has a different role in the development process. The 23rd pair of chromosomes determines the biological sex of an individual. The males have XY chromosomes, while females have XX chromosomes. The Y in the XY chromosomes in males causes the Gonads in the embryo to develop as testes, while its absence in the XX chromosomes in females causes the gonads to develop as ovaries.
According to the biological approach, individuals have little or no choice over their behavior. Their biological sex automatically makes women “nurtures” and men more aggressive and competitive. However, the same approach fails to explain why some individuals, through their behaviors and psychological attributes, identify as a gender that does not correspond to their biological sex. The biological approach does not adequately address the issue regarding such cross-gender identification to gender identity.
Bourne VJ, Maxwell AM. Examining the sex difference in lateralisation for processing facial emotion: Does biological sex or psychological gender identity matter?. Neuropsychologia. 2010 Apr 1;48(5):1289-94.
Langley LK. Self-determination in a gender fundamentalist state: toward legal liberation of transgender identities. Tex. J. on CL & CR. 2006;12:101.
Polderman TJ, Kreukels BP, Irwig MS, Beach L, Chan YM, Derks EM, Esteva I, Ehrenfeld J, Den Heijer M, Posthuma D, Raynor L. The biological contributions to gender identity and gender diversity: Bringing data to the table. Behavior genetics. 2018 Mar 1;48(2):95-108.

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