Gender Identity Exists

Don't let's confuse biology with sociology.

A Mr. Jerry Clifford’s recent letter to a local weekly’s editor suggests that those who insist on biology over sociology trivialize gender identity. That editorial questioned whether genitalia alone, in Mr. Clifford’s interpretation, determine a biological male. I agree with him that “Gender is a part of a person’s total being”, the biological part. We are all endowed with a sexual identity via our chromosomes. He justifies disavowing genitalia as signifying gender by noting “infants born with both genitalia, which the physician often modifies immediately”. Those born with both female and male genitalia are rare errors of development, which can be corrected by surgery and long-term medical treatment. That is not pertinent to discussion of those who feel, emotionally and sociologically, that they have been born in the “wrong body”. Strong evidence, biologically, neurologically, and psychologically, now exists suggesting that some percentage of persons develop as individuals who pre…