Describe the Psychodynamic explanation of gender identity development?

Answer 1

The psychodynamic theory of gender development suggests that gender identity and role are
acquired during the third stage of psychosexual development, the phallic stage. Before this, in the
oral and anal stages, the child does not have a gender identity and its sexual drives are directed
indiscriminately. As the child enters the phallic stage, the focus of its libido moves to the genitals
and the development of girls and boys diverges.
Boys enter the Oedipus complex. They start to sexually desire their mothers. They realize that
their father stands in the way of the satisfaction of their desire and this frustration of the id's desires
results in aggressive feelings, which are directed towards the father. At the same time, the boy
realizes that his father is more powerful than he is and starts to fear that if the father finds out about
the boy's desire for his mother he will castrate him (castration anxiety). The boy deals with the
conflict this causes by starting to identify with the father and wanting to be like him. This leads to
him internalizing his father, essentially, incorporating his father into his own psyche. This becomes
his superego and, in taking on his father as part of himself the boy takes on the male gender
identity. He deals with his desire for his mother by displacing it onto other women.
Girls enter the Elektra complex. This starts with the realization that they have no penis. This leads
them to believe that they have been castrated, something for which they blame their mother.
Because she has no penis the girl sees herself as powerless, and wishes that she had one (penis
envy). She starts to desire her father, because he has one and becomes jealous and hostile
towards her mother, mirroring the Oedipus complex in boys. Eventually, she starts to identify with
and to internalize her mother, developing a superego and a female gender identity. At this point
she represses her desire for a penis and substitutes it for the desire for a baby.

Answer 2

The Psychodynamic explanation suggests that gender identity development is shaped by unconscious conflicts between innate biological drives and societal expectations. Freud's theory notably includes the Oedipus and Electra complexes, which involve a child's identification with the same-sex parent as a key factor in gender identity formation. Psychodynamic perspectives emphasize early childhood experiences and internalized beliefs about gender passed down from caregivers as influential in shaping an individual's sense of self.