What’s in a Gender? And How Does It Develop?

By Malachi Willis

In her TransYouth Project, Dr. Olson and her team are following more than 300 children from the United States and Canada over the course of 20 years. She compares the gender development of socially transitioned transgender children with both cisgender siblings and cisgender-matched peers. For her work, Dr. Olson received a MacArthur Fellowship and was the first psychologist awarded the National Science Foundation’s Waterman award—the nation’s highest honor for early career scientists.

Overall, children develop their gender identity and related behaviors regardless of their sex at birth. But transgender children—and their cisgender siblings—differ from cisgender peers in that they are less likely to have gender-oriented prejudices and more likely to tolerate gender nonconformity. The similarity between siblings indicates that people do not need to be transgender to be open toward gender flexibility.

Disseminating this research is important, but writing about gender in a manuscript can be difficult to navigate. Because the way society thinks about gender is rapidly shifting, researchers should be precise and define their terms for readers when appropriate. Dr. Olson indicates that writing about gender is further challenging, because “people who think about gender use different language than people who almost never talk or write about gender.”

While the APA Publication Manual delineates “sex” and “gender,” many nuances are not reflected in that resource. “Transgender” versus “transgendered.” “Natal sex” versus “sex assigned at birth.” Dr. Olson thinks that the field and SPSP could help researchers by providing up-to-date guidance on correct or preferred wording. With society in flux, writing about these constructs—and even measuring them validly—is a moving target. If you are researching gender like Dr. Olson, being conscientious of your usage and striving to learn phrases as they evolve is best practice.