As stated in Gender Identity: Nature and Nurture Working Together, As social scientists define the concept, gender identity is individuals self-definition as female or male, which is based on their biological sex as interpreted within their culture (Eagly, Wood, 207). Traditionally in society, an individual would have either been male or female. However, there has been a rapidly increasing fight for acceptance and understanding from the transgender community. This has opened up the idea of gender interpretation, straying away from the idea that sex is purely a natural idea. Biologically speaking, sex is determined based on the XX or XY chromosomes at birth, however, humans arent born understanding their gender roles in society. According to the study, this self-awareness isnt formed until around 8 months of age. Early factors, such as personality traits and toy selection can be early indicators of one selfs gender identity. While early childhood decision-making cant be used as proof of ones identity, it does raise the question as to
how the parents reactions to such choices will affect these individuals later in life.
In recent years, there has been a large emergence of young individuals beginning to question their gender, as well as making life decisions that will forever affect them. This raises the question, have people always been self-aware of their gender dysphoria from a young age, or is our society simply opening up more opportunities for acceptance and help? This is the idea explored in Found in Transition: Our Littlest Transgender People. The goal of this study is to determine and understand how individuals can feel disagreement with the gender on their birth certificate, and how families and psychologists can give them the proper care needed (Ehrensaft, 204). Similarly, to the previous article, that people with gender dysphoria, even from a young age, are not fitting into the societal expectations of their birth gender. Further exploration into parenting techniques is needed to see if these ideas are simply being accepted or reinforced by the parents.