Case Studies in Development of Masculinity and Femininity in Male Children
| Autor: | Alexander C. Rosen, James Teague |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 1974 |
| Předmět: |
media_common.quotation_subject
Wish Identity (social science) 050109 social psychology Sister Developmental psychology Sex Factors Humans Personality 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences Identification Psychological Fantasy Child Father-Child Relations General Psychology media_common 05 social sciences 050301 education Femininity Mother-Child Relations Self Concept Transsexual Psychosexual Development Child Preschool Masculinity Psychology 0503 education Social psychology Transsexualism |
| Zdroj: | Psychological Reports. 34:971-983 |
| ISSN: | 1558-691X 0033-2941 |
| Popis: | Summary.-This paper presents case data on the fathers of boys who display feminine behavior and who express the wish, fantasy or desire to become little girls. Although not physically absent from the home, these fathers were nonparticipants psychologically. The quality of their relationship with their boys, their own personality needs, and the nature of the relationship between mother and child provide the major basis for the boys' difficulty in achieving an adequate masculine identity and displaying feminine behavior and interests. This paper examines how fathers may contribute to the development of masculinity and femininity in their sons. We consider four physically normally male boys who nonetheless have been reported as showing feminine behavior by the mother, the father, or the community. The boys and their fathers who are discussed in this paper show family characteristics, as well as reported, and observed, precursors of "transsexual" symptoms in the son. In previously published studies (Stoller, 1968) the conditions were described which contribute to the disturbances in masculine and feminine behavior in men and women and in the development of what has been called transsexualism (Green & Money, 1969). In an earlier study, other authors have observed certain qualities in the family lives of the boys and in the behavior observed in the mothers of men who were described as transsexuals. We but briefly summarize them below (Green, 1968, 1970; Green, Newman, & Stoller, 1972). It was observed that the mother showed an early history of bisexuality. These mothers frequently described themselves as being "tomboys" who really did not wholeheartedly pursue feminine behavior until the onset of puberty. With puberty these mothers but reluctantly commenced wearing dresses and assuming a more conventional feminine role. The mothers of our uanssexual Ss also reported extreme and extended physical and psychological closeness between the mother and the son during the child's first 2 yr. of life. The observed closeness was one in which the son and the mother existed almost as if they were a single physical entity. The child was frequently carried and kept in a constant physical contact with the mother and lived almost as a "phallic-like" extension of the mother. Their psychological unity very frequently was reflected by the mother when she would refer either to the child or herself as "we," reflecting little psychological distance between the child and herself. Some of the Ss examined by us had an older sister who played an active role in the boy's transsexual behavior and contributed and assisted in his dressing in feminine clothing. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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