Does your sexual identity begin at birth?

Answer 1

Perhaps at least that early, and possibly even as early as during the first trimester of pregnancy. It depends what you mean by sexual identity. Do you mean the deep, unchanging conviction that you are a boy or a girl? Or do you mean sexual attraction or orientation?

The David Reimer case history indicated that gender identity is not learned. That was the case where a boy was accidentally penectomized during a circumcision attempt. Anyone with common sense should know that the body and the feelings are separate, but Dr. Money got his ideas from Freud who actually believed that an intact penis was required for feelings of masculinity. So Dr. Money suggested that the boy be castrated too and raised as a girl. That proved to be trouble from the start. David (then named Brenda) ripped off his first dress and peed standing up despite receiving corporal punishment for it. He had to urinate outside at school because he was not allowed to use the boy's restroom, and the girls beat him up or bullied him if he used theirs. By his teen years, he gave his parents an ultimatum on this and said he would live as a boy. His classmates took that rather well. Sadly, David Reimer eventually committed suicide. Between the loss of his twin brother to mental illness, some poor decisions he made, and how he was raised, it all got the best of him.