RESUMEN
It is still unclear to what extent cross-gender identity is due to pre- and perinatal organising effects of sex hormones on the brain. Empirical evidence for a relationship between prenatal hormonal influences and certain aspects of gender typical (cognitive) functioning comes from pre- and postpubertal clinical samples, such as women suffering from congenital adrenal hyperplasia and studies in normal children. In order to further investigate the hypothesis that cross-gender identity is influenced by prenatal exposure to (atypical) sex steroid levels we conducted a study with early onset, adult male-to-female and female-to-male transsexuals, who were not yet hormonally treated, and nontranssexual adult female and male controls. The aim of the study was to find out whether early onset transsexuals performed in congruence with their biological sex or their gender identity. The results on different tests show that gender differences were pronounced, and that the two transsexual groups occupied a position in between these two groups, thus showing a pattern of performance away from their biological sex. The findings provide evidence that organisational hormonal influences may have an effect on the development of cross-gender identity.
Asunto(s)
Encéfalo/fisiología , Cognición/fisiología , Lateralidad Funcional/fisiología , Transexualidad/psicología , Adolescente , Adulto , Pruebas de Audición Dicótica , Femenino , Humanos , Masculino , Memoria/fisiología , Persona de Mediana Edad , Desempeño Psicomotor/fisiología , Percepción Espacial/fisiologíaRESUMEN
A self-theory of transvestism and secondary transsexuality in which gender identity is a major self subsystem has been advanced in previous research. Within this framework transsexuals and transvestites were compared on a number of developmental characteristics. While early-onset transsexuals (n = 103) were dominantly female, both late-onset transsexuals (n = 52) and transvestites (n = 36) showed much more feminine behavior than expected. This was interpreted as a sign that they were already developing a feminine gender identity in their early years. Implications for this theory were discussed: (i) The assumption of two gender identity subsystems (a masculine and a feminine) in any human being, which can have any relative strength; (ii) the incorporation of the concept of expression of an identity subsystem, which can be unconditional or conditional (i.e., expression of aspects of the self only if certain conditions are fulfilled) and which has the function of self-seeking. Two continua are proposed. One ranges from a strong feminine gender identity subsystem that is unconditionally expressed to weak unexpressed femininity. The second ranges from a strong and unconditionally expressed masculinity to a weak masculinity. Male-to-female transsexuals (and "normal" females) are characterized by a strong unconditionally expressed feminine gender identity in combination with a weak unexpressed masculinity. Transvestism is a position in between in which both masculinity and femininity are conditionally expressed.