KJ Elizabeth

For my PhD I’m researching cross-gender identification among young children. Basically this refers to children who either (1) believe they are the other sex, (2) want to be the other sex, or (3) do not want or claim to be the other sex but are overwhelmingly or exclusively identified with the other gender in terms of behaviours and interests.

Within psychology and psychiatry this phenomenon is known as Gender Identity Disorder of Childhood. GIDC is an extremely controversial diagnosis that has been widely criticised for attempting to impose conservative North American gender values on children who some critics say are merely displaying their natural interests and inclinations.

Contrary to popular belief, the evidence thus far suggests that the majorty of children who receive the diagnosis will not become transsexual or later identify as transgender (a significant proportion do, but not the majority). With this fact in mind, my interest in this subject concerns how cross-gender identifications in children develop.

After becoming concerned about the diagnosis and reviewing the literature, it seemed to me that there were a number of potentially significant issues that were being overlooked, by both advocates and critics. So I decided to undertake an exploratory study and explore these issues further.

I study in the discipline of Sociology. My other research interests include autism and gender development, premenstral dysphoric disorder and mental health concerns such as depression.