1. Childhood Gender Identity
Development
Morgan(ne) Ray
Translating Identities Conference
1:30-3:00pm Saturday February 24th
Gender Socialization in Young Kids

2. Who am I and why does this
matter?
 Childcare provider
for infant,
preschool and
school age children
 Primary research
focus for 3 years
 Understand ways in
which gender is
learned and
enacted
 Provide learning
tools to utilize in
explaining
gendered
understandings

3. Ways in Which Children
Learn Gender
 Positive and Negative reinforcement –
direct and indirect messages from
family, teachers and peers
 Role Models – children are more likely
to imitate those of the same assigned
gender

4. Gender Discussion with a
Four Year Old
“Are you a boy or a girl?”
“That’s a complicated question”
“Do you have a penis”
“No”
“So you’re a girl, you have a vulva”
“It’s true, I have a girl body. But know how you feel
like a boy inside?”
“Yeah”
“Well, I feel like both. I’m trans.”
“So you feel like a girl and a boy?”
“Yup”
“I’m hungry…”

5. Toddler Age
 Able to match feminine voice with feminine
face and masculine voice with masculine
face
 Understand their own assigned gender
identity
 Prefer toys aimed at assigned gender
 Can articulate some stereotypes for male
and female
 Large amounts of cross gender play

6. Introductions
 What is your name?
 What is your preferred pronoun?
 What is your gender identity?
 What else is interesting about you?

7. Preschool
 Identify the gender binary
 Use hair styles and clothes as gender
indicators – androgyny very confusing
 Can define genders based on stereotypical
personality traits, occupation, appearance
and household activities
 Personally engage in lots of cross gender
play until peer pressure kicks in
 Gender rigidity accompanied by
exaggerated gender characteristics

8. Gendered Candies
 Did you separate your candy the same
way as your neighbor?
 What was difficult about separating
the candy into two groups?

9. Kindergarten
 Aware that physical sex does not
change – especially due to behaviors
 Concern that child was born the
wrong sex emerges
 Gender norms enforced within peers
 Cross gender play declines
significantly

10. Find Your Friends
 How did you feel about dots
different than yours?
 How did you decide who could be in
your group and who couldn’t?

11. Elementary School
 Gender normative children adamant
about not playing with gender variant
children
 Gender expression relatively stable

12. Describing Others
 How difficult was it to avoid using
pronouns?
 How does this reflect your
dependence on the gender binary?

13. Middle School
 Period of severe gender rigidity
 Teasing of gender variant children
most severe
 Internal gender identity and sexual
orientation discovered
 Understand the difference between
sex and gender

14. Deconstructing Identities
 How many stereotypes could you think
of?
 Was it easy to think of gendered
stereotypes?
 How did it feel to rip someone else’s
sense of self?
 How did it feel to watch yourself
ripped apart?

15. Possible Explanations of
Cross Gender Behavior
 Exploratory play
 Sexual Orientation – same sex
attraction confusing
 Reclamation of Power from abuse
 Transgender identity