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Gender identity is defined by DSM-III-R as the sense of knowing to which sex one belongs, with the awareness that “I am male” or “I am female.”
Susan Coates spoke about “Conflict in Gender Identity of Boys.” She has studied boys with extreme boyhood femininity. All the boys in her study wished to be girls, preferred female activities, avoided rough-and-tumble play and liked cross-dressing. These boys all had other pervasive difficulties such as separation anxiety and depression. The mothers were often borderline narcissistic, depressed, dependent women who devalued men. Many of the mothers had been severely traumatized when their sons were two or three years of age. She postulated that maternal psychopathology impairs the child's separation-individuation process. In order not to lose “Mommy” he merges with “Mommy.” Dr. Coates invoked a bio-psycho-social model but emphasized that the specific biological influences predisposing to childhood G.F.O. have yet been identified.
Martha Kirkpatrick spoke on “The Organizers of Femininity.” She deplored that the hallmarks of femininity have been defined by men as passivity, masochism,