Is Gender Variation a Psychological Illness?

Psychosexuality, or in plainer English, psychological behavior that is seemingly associated with biological sex has, since the 1960’s, been split into three categories: gender role, gender identity, and sexual orientation. Gender Identity and sexual orientation have always been viewed primarily as biological and/or one’s own sense of self as belonging to one sex or the other, whereas gender roles have primarily been viewed as culturally stimulated. However in recent years, many social scientists have begun to question whether some attributes of gender roles are actually biologically induced instead of culturally induced. As a result large amounts of attention have been placed on Gender Identiy Disorders (GIDs). Strong psychological identifications with the opposite sex that are signaled by the display of opposite sex-typed behaviors and avoidance or rejection of sex-typed behaviors characteristic of one’s own sex. Social scientists hope that by studying these cases of GIDs they might be able to determine whether or not gender variation is a psychological illness or a biological phenomenon. In this particular issue we are exposed to both sides of the topic.