The development of a human’s gender takes place in many complex processes. The word “gender” initially leaves open whether we are referring to the mental gender experience or physical sexual characteristics. In sexual science and gender studies, a distinction is made between different gender levels: The physical, the psychosocial and the cultural gender.
In addition, there is the concept of psychosexual development, which was formulated by Sigmund Freud and others, and expresses the close interaction of physical, sexual and psychological development.
Physical sexual development illustrates that a person’s physical sex also includes different levels of sex. First, the “genetic” or “chromosomal sex” develops, then the gonadal sex in the form of the respective gonadal structure, and parallel to this the “hormonal sex” or the hormonal sex level, and the “anatomical” or “phenotypical sex”, which includes not only the external visible structures but also the internal genital ones.
Literature
Biological perspective:
- Voss, H.-J. (2011). Making Sex Revisited: Dekonstruktion des Geschlechts aus biologisch-medizinischer Perspektive. transcript Verlag
Psychosocial perspective:
- Schweizer, K. (2010). “Grundlagen der psychosexuellen Entwicklung und ‘ihrer Störungen’”. In G. Duttke, W. Engel, & B. Zoll (ed.), Sexuelle Identität und gesellschaftliche Norm (11–35). Universitätsverlag Göttingen.