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Psy of Sex

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The Sexual Being “My 4-year-old son has said to me that he is sad to be a boy. He loves to play with dolls, play dress up with my high heels and jewelry, and prefers to watch “girlie” cartoons and movies rather than things that should appeal to boys. Is he going to be gay or does he truly want to be a girl?”
Kids experimenting with their gender roles are completely normal and it’s around age four and five when children begin understanding (generally) what makes them a boy or a girl. This means this developmental period is even more important for parents to cherish and foster, not restrict and forcibly shape. “The greatest difficulty for children and adolescents who are homosexual or who identify with the opposite sex is the social pressure they feel to behave heterosexually, and the discrimination they may experience because of their sexual orientation or gender identification. This may isolate them from their peers and even their family, and their self-esteem and self-confidence can suffer terribly in the process. A large proportion of teenage suicide attempts are linked to issues of gender confusion and to perceived re­jection of an adolescent with a homosexual orientation.” (Schor) Children at your son’s age play with toys of the opposite sex; they are discovering their gender identity. Some children just grow out if it and their gender identity is that as the sex they were born; then there are children who truly feel as if they are in the wrong body and their gender identity is that of the opposite sex. “Kohlberg's theory of gender identity development describes how young children learn to understand their gender, and what being that gender means in their everyday life. Kohlberg theorized that there are 3 stages to this process. Initially, during the early preschool years (ages 3 to 4 years), young children engage in gender labeling. Young children can

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