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| Biological and psychosocial correlates of gender-variant and gender-typical identities | Link | Download |
Veale’s PhD thesis was the first study to find a relationship between emotional abuse and “adult gender variance” in a large sample of transsexuals and non-transsexual comparators (amongst other factors). Sexual abuse was also correlated with adult gender variance but not statistically significant after adjustment.
Veale states that abuse may be causal of an opposite-sex identity: “Modelling suggested that abuse may be a cause as well as a result of having a gender variant identity”; and discusses an article by Devor (2008). Devor interviewed a convenience sample of 45 adult female-to-male transsexuals, 27 (60%) of whom had suffered at least one incident of severe child abuse. 43 of the 45 were also homosexual or bisexual. Devor suggests that in some cases an opposite-sex identity may be an extreme dissociative response to abuse. Citing Young (1992), Devor writes that child abuse victim must “find a way to live within a body which has become a site of danger to them as whole and integrated persons”. Veale and Devor cite further studies linking child abuse to sex stereotype non-conforming behaviour and opposite-sex identity.
Veale emphasises an alternative theory that reverses causality: those with more pronounced gender variance are more likely to have been the target of abuse, and this has been an ongoing theme of Veale’s work in the form of the “gender minority stress model”. But here Veale fails to maintain a distinction between the targeted variant behaviour and the self-concept response noted by Devor. There is no dispute that children with sex stereotype non-conforming behaviour, such as those who will grow up to be lesbian or gay, are more likely to be the target of abuse —in particular, homophobic abuse. The question is: can abuse lead to dissociation from one’s sexed body and the development of an opposite-sex self concept?
Veale’s results support this hypothesis. DeLay and colleagues also find that girls’ identification with the female sex diminished and identification with the male sex marginally increased after bullying that punished sex stereotype non-conforming behaviours. The abuse is internalised and “peer-perceptions become self-perceptions”.
| Authors |
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| Dr Jamie Veale |
| Timeline |
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| 2011 |