Gender, Biology, and Fantasy

The current political climate has a LOT of people arguing about gender identity and whether or not it relates to biology or is merely a "cultural contstruct". Moreover, I see struggles in this in many of my patients who want to feel like they are "living up to" the ideals they have seen or learned about in fantasy narratives, religion, or other emotionally powerful stories.

These are timeless questions--how do I measure up against a Beowulf? Or an Aragorn? The craftiness of Odin? How do I compare with the wisdom of Galadriel? Or the ferocity of Freya or Athena? Or, perhaps we compare ourselves to people in our past--fathers, mothers, aunts, uncles, grandparents as a model.

How Much is Biological?

So a big question here is: how much of our desire to align with so-called 'masculine' or 'feminine' behaviors is a result of our own biology vs. how much are these ideas culturally constructed? Is it mostly one or the other? Or, if it is a mixture, how much relative importance does one have over the other?

If we go with a definition of gender as a suite of behavioral predispositions and preferences commonly labeled as "masculine" (i.e., oriented toward things, geometric intelligence, agonistic competition, and team-oriented cooperation etc.) and "feminine" (oriented toward empathy, emotional intelligence, non-agonistic competition and interpersonally oriented cooperation), are these collections of predispositions entirely culturally defined, and hence malleable and arbitrary?

While it is true that these behavioral tendencies cluster in the much same way across cultures with only modest variation, this fact could be due to non-biological factors. So let's assume that it is true, and the degree to which an individual aligns themself with one or the other (or some combination) of such categories is entirely due to social pressures and individual, personal history, and has minimal contribution from biology. In other words, such an individual could potentially go in any direction with no statistical bias based in biology. Of course, if this is true, it would apply not only to cis-gendered persons, but also trans-gendered persons. 

What do the biosciences actually say about this?

Without belaboring a bunch of research (see partial list below), the picture emerging from neuroscience, endocrinology, and neuro-behavioral genetics is that sexual identity, and hence gender dysphoria in the case of a mismatch, appears to be linked to a number of brain structure dimorphisms that originate from fluctuations in sex hormone levels that permanently alter brain development in utero (followed by a secondary differentiation in adolescence). In other words, trans persons are, quite literally, born to be that way. Or, put another way, gender identity has its origins in utero, and subsequent socialization can either repress or encourage this development, but it cannot create it for that individual. It can only modify what is already there. 

This, along with large reviews of data (Archer 2019--see below) show clearly that gender identity (both cis- and trans-) have strong biological determinants, and that the suite of behavioral dispositions that are commonly gendered cross-culturally does have a significant, but not complete biological determination. This is NOT to say culture is irrelevant, however. Biology very often generates necessary but insufficient conditions to fully explain gender differentials of a given behavior. Where culture comes in, I think, is in the way biological predispositions are either encouraged or repressed, or in some contexts given their own category, such as the "two spirited" category found in some modern pan-native American contexts. 

Clinical Struggles With Gender Ideals

Clinically I have found that, especially with my transgender patients, a brief explanation of this research is often met with a sigh of great relief. Thank god, they tell me, this isn't just "in my head", and that the reason I have always felt like the "wrong gender" is due to this normal variant in human development. It is powerful to know one is born the way they are, and that this is not only ok, but should be celebrated. This, of course, ALSO applies to cis-gendered individuals, meaning that "gender" cannot be solely explained via cultural influence/construction alone. 

Biology is not the enemy of egalitarianism, it is the enemy of bigotry and procrustean beds. When extremist wing-nuts invoke biology, they are doing it incorrectly, cherry-picking data, and they are not doing so in good faith. Biology does NOT serve authoritarian agendas or oppressive policies. All gender identities deserve compassion and a good understanding of the beautiful biological processes which helped them come into being. In Jungian work, we often attempt to help patients align the ego with the collective unconscious. In my view, this means asking ourselves, what of your inner experience emerges organically, simply from the way you were made (this is because I align the collective unconscious with the genome)? If a woman receives judgment from not being "girly" enough, or a man is judged "toxic" because he has a strong affiliation with "masculine" behavior, or is criticized for being "a wuss", how does it serve them to argue that all of those categories are culturally constructed and hence arbitrary? Rather, I think it's more healing to ask, how were they made? How did your unique body and brain makeup generate your deeply felt predispositions? Why did Nature create genders in the first place? And how can we work within the framework Nature gave us in Her wisdom, rather than try to argue it all out of existence? How can I understand where I fit into the grand scheme of biodiversity on this planet? I've found this to be much more helpful than telling them all these categories can be "deconstructed" and have no inherent meaning. 

Gender in Fantasy

In our favorite stories, the ideals of gender behavior are often on massive display. The reason why I think it is so important is because the ideals and concepts in folktales, myths, and popular fantasy will BE the cultural element that combines with your biology to give you a sense of interconnectedness. Many Lord of the Rings fans, for example, see Aragorn as the pinnacle of healthy masculinity--Aragorn is strong and a fierce defender of those he loves, for example, but he is also a healer, and feels deeply for his friends and those he is called upon to lead. He presents as balanced, non-toxic, and a powerfully positive example of what a young man who is wondering about his gendered place in the world should look like. The Aragorn of the films even experiences temporary self-doubt and overcomes it, which gives young men an additional anchor in which to be inspired, as if even one so great as Aragorn can question is worthiness and overcome it, surely I can too!

Stories that last generations do so not because of arbitrary cultural whimsy, but because they resonate with countless listeners. They are a sort of collective dream in that sense. Biology plays a major part here because it is partially responsible for the predispositions that push such stories in one direction or another. Men and women evolved with overlapping but distinct specializations that, over millennia, wound up serving survival. Each of us has a blend of these qualities--human sexual dimorphism is only partial, much like wolves and other social mammals. Being social animals, moreover, we all have a potentially important part to play in the tapestry of specializations that have allowed us to survive and thrive to such an incredible extent. I think it is likely that, since we are a storytelling animal, we have told fantastical narratives to one another across the ages as a key element in this process of finding where we belong within the larger family, community, and universe as a whole.

Just my 2 cents.

Best,

EG

Sources:

Archer, J. 2019. The reality and evolutionary significance of human psychological sex differences. Biological review 94: 1381-1415.

Baldinger-Melich, P., et al. 2020. Sex Matters: a multivariate patterns analysis of sex- and gender-related neuroanatomical differences in cis- and transgender 

individuals using structural magnetic resonance imaging. Cerebral Cortex 30(3): 1345-1356.

Class, F., et al. Biological sex classivication with structural MRI data shows increased misclassification in transgender women. Neurophysopharmacology 45: 1758-1765.

Fisher, A., et al. 2018. The molecular mechanisms of sexual orientation and gender identity. Molecular and cellural endocrinology 467: 3-313.

Hines, M. 2020. Human gender development. Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews 118 : 89-96.

Mueller, SC., et al. 2017. A structural magnetic resonance imaging study in transgender persons on cross-sex horone therapy. Neuroendocrinology 105: 123-130. 

Stensma, T. D. 2013. Gender identity development in adolescence. Hormones and behavior 64: 288-297.