Gender Identity Disorder

Ideas about gender-identity formation have important implications for
child rearing and education. Most parents want to help their child identify
with and feel positive about his or her gender. Those few children who fail to
develop a clear inner sense of themselves as male or female consistent with
their biological sex may have significant social adjustment difficulties; they
are sometimes given psychological treatment for a condition called genderidentity
disorder.
According to the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-IV-TR (rev. 4th ed., 2000), genderidentity
disorder is defined by a strong and persistent cross-gender identification.
In a child, it is manifested by such features as repeated statements of
the desire to be, or insistence that he or she is, the other gender; preference
for or insistence on wearing stereotypical clothing of the opposite sex;
strong and persistent preference for cross-sex roles in make-believe play or
fantasies of being the other gender; an intense desire to participate in the
stereotypical games of the opposite sex; and a strong preference for playmates
of the other sex. A boy with this disorder may assert that his penis is
disgusting or will disappear, or that it would be better not to have one. He
may show an aversion toward rough-and-tumble play and reject male stereotypical
toys, games, and activities. A girl with this disorder may reject urinating in a sitting position, assert that she has or will grow a penis, claim that she
does not want to grow breasts or to menstruate, or show a marked aversion
toward feminine clothing.
Adults who continue to have a gender identity that is inconsistent with
their biological sex may desire surgery and hormonal treatments to change
their sex. This rare condition, called transsexualism, is more common
among biological males than females. Although many people have interests,
personality characteristics, or sexual preferences commonly associated with
the other gender, they are not transsexuals; their inner sense of their gender
is consistent with their biological sex.