Gender identity has played a crucial role in the field of psychology, leading to many established theories and causal relationships by well-known scholars. For a long time, there has been a debate regarding the essence of gender identity and what might influence it.
While one group of people believes that a person’s gender identity is solely their genetic predisposition and is ingrained in one’s DNA, another group of people believes that gender identity is a social construct, which is rather learned than acquired. When analyzing both perspectives, it is vital to see the stereotypes prevailing in society. For example, among the most vivid examples are the role of a caring and loving individual who loves dressing up and using makeup, which is usually expected of a woman, and the role of an individual who must be protected and have as little emotion as possible, which is usually expected of men.
When seeing gender identity perceptions as above, it is vital to mention that they might be partly induced by biological predispositions. It is not an unknown fact that in prehistoric times, men had to be the breadwinners owing to their stronger physique and women were expected to care for children. However, if people’s behaviors and identities were only determined by physiological factors and DNA, there would be no debate regarding these issues.
While biology plays an important part, the biggest impact comes from one’s environment. The nature vs nurture argument centers on how much certain behaviors are the result of learned or hereditary effects (McLeod, 2018). Generally speaking, nurture is the result of external influences, such as exposure, personal experiences, and knowledge (McLeod, 2018).
As a result, the nurture concept has more influence on sex, gender identity, and expression, since people are social beings, and society, builds and maintains certain norms, which makes them different from any other creature on the planet. Observing the behavior of other people and seeing a correlation between them and oneself, a person might start to emulate such expressions and attitudes, which makes the nurture concept stronger than nature.
Reference
McLeod, S. (2018). Nature vs. Nurture Debate in Psychology. SimplyPsychology. Web.