Psychosocial and Erotic Development in Cross-Gender Identified Children

This article reviews certain aspects of psychosocial and erotic development in cross-gender identified children. Consideration is first given to the hypothesis that cross-sex affiliation preference and its attendant social ostracism is one factor that accounts for the presence of behavioural psychopathology in cross-gender identified boys. Next, the strong relation between patterns of childhood sex-typing and later sexual orientation is discussed. It is concluded that more attention should be given to the study of erotic development in its own right.