Editing Gender identity (section)

{{short description|Personal sense of one's own gender}}
{{redirects here|Gender identification|the process of determining the sex of a human|Sex assignment|the process of determining the sex of an individual animal|Sexing}}
{{pp-semi-indef}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}}
'''Gender identity''' is the personal sense of one's own [[gender]].<ref name="MorrowMessinger">{{cite book | vauthors = Morrow DF | chapter = Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Expression. | veditors = Morrow DF, Messinger L | title = Sexual orientation and gender expression in social work practice: working with gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people | date = 2006 | publisher = Columbia University Press | location = New York | isbn = 978-0-231-50186-6 | pages = 3–17 (8) | quote = Gender identity refers to an individual's personal sense of identity as masculine or feminine, or some combination thereof. | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=irs3BAAAQBAJ&dq=978-0-231-50186-6&pg=PA8 | access-date = 19 December 2021 | archive-date = 19 December 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211219122137/https://books.google.com/books?id=irs3BAAAQBAJ&dq=978-0-231-50186-6&pg=PA8 | url-status = live }}</ref> Gender identity can correlate with a person's [[assigned sex]] or can differ from it. In most individuals, the various biological determinants of sex are congruent and consistent with the individual's gender identity.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Bhargava A, Arnold AP, Bangasser DA, Denton KM, Gupta A, Hilliard Krause LM, Mayer EA, McCarthy M, Miller WL, Raznahan A, Verma R | display-authors = 6 | title = Considering Sex as a Biological Variable in Basic and Clinical Studies: An Endocrine Society Scientific Statement | journal = Endocrine Reviews | volume = 42 | issue = 3 | pages = 219–258 | date = May 2021 | pmid = 33704446 | pmc = 8348944 | doi = 10.1210/endrev/bnaa034 }}</ref> [[Gender expression]] typically reflects a person's gender identity, but this is not always the case.<ref name="Summers">{{cite book| vauthors = Summers RW |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5nF1DQAAQBAJ&pg=PA232|title=Social Psychology: How Other People Influence Our Thoughts and Actions [2 volumes]|date=2016|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9781610695923|page=232}}</ref><ref name="APA2015">{{cite journal | author = American Psychological Association | title = Guidelines for psychological practice with transgender and gender nonconforming people | journal = The American Psychologist | volume = 70 | issue = 9 | pages = 832–864 | date = December 2015 | pmid = 26653312 | doi = 10.1037/a0039906 | s2cid = 1751773 }}</ref> While a person may express behaviors, attitudes, and appearances consistent with a particular [[gender role]], such expression may not necessarily reflect their gender identity. The term ''gender identity'' was coined by psychiatry professor [[Robert J. Stoller]] in 1964 and popularized by psychologist [[John Money]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/dr-john-money-pioneer-sexual-identity-dies-flna1c9439208|title=Dr. John Money, pioneer in sexual identity, dies|website=[[NBC News]]|date=9 July 2006 |access-date=16 January 2022|archive-date=16 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220116101434/https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/dr-john-money-pioneer-sexual-identity-dies-flna1c9439208|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Bevan TE |title=The psychobiology of transsexualism and transgenderism: a new view based on scientific evidence |date=2015 |location=Santa Barbara, California |publisher=Bloomsbury |isbn=978-1440831270 |page=40}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Stoller RJ | title = The Hermaphroditic Identity of Hermaphrodites | journal = The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease | volume = 139 | issue = 5 | pages = 453–457 | date = November 1964 | pmid = 14227492 | doi = 10.1097/00005053-196411000-00005 | s2cid = 22585295 }}</ref>

In most societies, there is a basic division between gender attributes associated with males and females, a [[gender binary]] to which most people adhere and which includes expectations of [[masculinity]] and [[femininity]] in all aspects of [[sex and gender]]: biological [[sex]], gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation.<ref name="Carlson">{{cite book |vauthors=Martin GN, Carlson NR, Buskist W |chapter=Psychology and Neuroscience |title=Psychology: The Science of Behaviour |date=2009 |publisher=Pearson |location=Toronto, Canada |isbn=978-0-205-64524-4 |edition=4th |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zyMbUZYnWh8C&dq=Psychology%3A+the+science+of+behaviour+2009&pg=PA140 |pages=140–141 |access-date=19 December 2021 |archive-date=19 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211219122137/https://books.google.com/books?id=zyMbUZYnWh8C&dq=Psychology:+the+science+of+behaviour+2009&pg=PA140 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Eller JD |title=Culture and diversity in the United States: so many ways to be American |date=2015 |publisher=Routledge |location=Abingdon, Oxon |isbn=978-1-317-57578-8 | page = 137 | quote = most Western societies, including the United States, traditionally operate with a binary notion of sex/gender }}</ref><ref name="AmPsycholAssn-whatis">{{cite web|title=Sexual Orientation & Homosexuality|publisher=[[American Psychological Association]]|date=2020|access-date=February 6, 2020|url=https://www.apa.org/topics/lgbt/orientation|archive-date=February 16, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190216213126/https://www.apa.org/topics/lgbt/orientation|url-status=live}}</ref> Some people do not identify with some, or all, of the aspects of gender associated with their biological sex; some of those people are [[transgender]], [[Non-binary gender|non-binary, or genderqueer]]. Some societies have [[third gender]] categories.<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = MacKenzie GO |title=Transgender nation |date=1994 |location=Bowling Green, OH |publisher=Popular Press |isbn=978-0-87972-596-9 | page = 43 | quote = transvestites [who do not identify with the dress assigned to their sex] existed in almost all societies }}; {{cite book | vauthors = Zastrow C | title = Introduction to Social Work and Social Welfare: Empowering People | date = 2013 |isbn=978-1-285-54580-6 | page = 234 | quote = There are records of males and females crossing over throughout history and in virtually every culture. It is simply a naturally occurring part of all societies. (quoting the North Alabama Gender Center) }}</ref>

The 2012 book ''Introduction to Behavioral Science in Medicine'' says that with exceptions, "Gender identity develops surprisingly rapidly in the early childhood years, and in the majority of instances appears to become at least partially irreversible by the age of 3 or 4".<ref name=bukatko/><ref name=IntBehavSciMed/> The [[Endocrine Society]] has stated "Considerable scientific evidence has emerged demonstrating a durable biological element underlying gender identity. Individuals may make choices due to other factors in their lives, but there do not seem to be external forces that genuinely cause individuals to change gender identity."<ref name="endocrine-society-position" /> [[Social constructivists]] argue that gender identity, or [[Gender expression|the way it is expressed]], are [[Social construction of gender|socially constructed]], determined by cultural and social influences. Constructivism of this type is not necessarily incompatible with the existence of an innate gender identity, since it may be the expression of that gender that varies by culture.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gender identity |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/gender-identity |access-date=2022-10-13 |website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |language=en |archive-date=12 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231012085044/https://www.britannica.com/topic/gender-identity |url-status=live }}</ref>