Fausto-Sterling's layers of sex significantly help us to understand the biology of sex and the origins of gender identity. According to Fausto’s layers of sex, sexual orientation begins right at the point of fertilization. Human males contribute to two types of sperms, one containing an X chromosome and in conjunction with another one containing the Y chromosome. The X and Y chromosomes contribute to the development of sex. Simultaneously, the females produce double X chromosomes, which only have one kind of X-bearing egg containing the full sets of chromosomes (Fausto-Sterling, 2012). The sperm and the egg later combine to form a double batch of autosomes containing both an X and a Y or two sets of autosomes in conjunction with two X chromosomes.
Furthermore, Fausto helps us understand how embryos form external sexual organs. She explains that the egg in which the Y chromosome is dominant form an embryonic testis during the eight weeks of post-conception. After another four weeks, the embryos containing the double X chromosomes develop embryonic ovaries.
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The developing fetus acquires fetal gonadal sex at that point in which it has developed the gonads. During the fetal gonadal sex, the testes or the ovaries quickly commences manufacturing hormones vital for the embryo's progress (Fausto-Sterling, 2012). The fetus acquires fetal hormonal sex at that point in which the gonadal hormones have formed. Fetal hormonal sex plays a fundamental role in the development of internal reproductive sex organs. The internal productive sex organs include the uterus, cervix, fallopian tubes in females and prostrate, the vas deferens, and the epididymis in males.
During the genital sex stage, the fetal hormones complete the process of shaping the external genital organs; this happens at the end of the fourth month of fetal development. At this stage, the external genital organs include; the scrotum and penis in males and the clitoris and vagina in females. According to Fausto sterling, by birth, a baby has five layers of sex; the chromosomal sex, indifferent fetal sex, differentiated fetal gonadal sex, fetal hormonal sex, and the fetal internal reproductive sex.
Fausto explains that gender identity typically originates at birth by genetic or other biological factors. Cultural and social factors can also influence gender identity; thus, gender identities are expressed differently with varying cultures (Fausto-Sterling, 2012). Also, among children, gender identity is usually established at a very tender age, and it is generally tough to change afterward. Under circumstances in which sexing errors occurred, it is always difficult to establish a gender identity once they reach adolescence.
Gender and sex are terms that people always use interchangeably (Fausto-Sterling, 2012). The two analogies are entirely different concepts. The differences between gender and sex are significant for people to understand. Being aware of their differences is always substantial in research and data collection. Sex is an individual's biological aspect, which is still determined by their anatomy and is generally designed by the chromosome. Sex is always determined by how the chromosomes interact with the hormones. Sex is the nature of being a male or a female, and an individual acquires it at birth.
On the other hand, gender is a social structure related to the behaviors, characteristics, and values determined by masculinity and femininity labels. Gender identity is usually a personal inward perception of an individual. However, the category that an individual identifies with may not necessarily match the sexual orientation assigned at birth.
The distinction between sex and gender plays a vital role in examining gender and sexuality as social variables and biological variables. However, some complexities are associated with differentiating the two concepts. The two ideas become problematic when the transgender population is under consideration. The sexual orientation of a transgender individual does not always correspond to their gender due to their unique biological makeup. An excellent example of how complexities can arise in this scenario is when a baby is born with male genitalia and grows and identifies with the feminine aspects of his culture. As a result, the child's sexual characteristics may not depict themselves in the usual way. Another complexity is that the notion of gender and sex varies with differences in cultures.
There are various known differences between boys and girls. For instance, putting mathematical capabilities into consideration, girls have lower innate abilities in solving complex mathematical problems than boys. The differences in mathematical skills make girls shy away from technical courses such as engineering or becoming science professors. In a meta-analysis conducted in 1990, the results showed that girls performed reasonably well in problems that involved simple computation in elementary and middle schools. On the other hand, boys in high school performed exceptionally well at complex problem-solving involving mathematics and other technical subjects. A difference between boys and girls is also evident in toy typing (Weisgram et al., 2018). Boys tend to play with more crafty toys such as car models, while girls prefer dolls.
There is a slight distinction between the type of languages that both boys and girls use that creates a little difference in their verbal abilities (Brown, 2014). Girls are more prone to using affiliative speech. Affiliative speech entails praising someone and agreeing with the person with who they are under communication. It also entails the act of elaborating on other people's comments. On the other hand, boys are fond of using an assertive form of speech (Brown, 2014). Bold speech entails providing information and offering suggestions, disagreeing with other people, and criticizing them.
On self-esteem, depression, and body image, girls generally feel bad about themselves compared to boys (Brown, 2014). Also, girls do have lower self-esteem as compared to boys. Furthermore, there is a significant difference in how boys and girls feel about their bodies. For example, girls are very much likely to have a negative feeling for having an overweight body than boys. Girls are known to be very sensitive to their body weight as opposed to boys. Dissatisfaction with body image among girls can also be associated with depression and closely tied to excessive media consumption.
The possible sources of these differences are from birth. At birth, humans use categories and form stereotypes based on the types (Brown, 2014). The classes are, therefore, well established in our minds making us not focus on new information.
Our understanding of gender development improves when considering children who do not fit in the gender binary (Brown, 2014). In many contexts, gender categorization and socialization operate as a binary. It is a concept that is composed of two parts, where people consider gender only as either male or female. The gender identities usually are structured along with this single parameter. However, children feel that they are not part of this gender binary, and they may need to challenge it. For instance, the transgender community may think that their identity does not fit into their biological sexuality.
The identities that seem not to fit in the gender binary has demonstrated the fluidity of gender (Brown, 2014). The fluidity of gender is customarily considered to be more biological and cannot be imputed. Our understanding of gender development also improves by putting gender fluidity into consideration. Gender fluidity depicts how gender norms are adopted, accepted, or rejected by socialized children. Gender splits into binary categories through socially constructed gender displays. Lastly, social constructionism plays an essential role in blurring the two gender categories' binary nature, which is often extremely crucial.
References
Brown, C. S. (2014). Parenting beyond pink & blue: How to raise your kids free of gender stereotypes . Ten Speed Press.
Fausto-Sterling, A. (2012). Sex/Gender: Biology in a social world . Routledge.
Weisgram, E. S., & Dinella, L. M. (2018). Gender typing of children's toys: How early play experiences impact development (pp. x-341). American Psychological Association.
