ABSTRACT
This chapter considers several processes relevant to the differentiation of sex-roles: the biological origins of sex differentiation; the characteristic aptitudes and propensities of girls and boys – how these may arise and what implications they have for later development. It discusses the manner in which boys and girls construe masculinity and feminity, and in so doing how they develop their gender identities and fashion their sex-roles. In general, though, an individual adopts a sex-role compatible with his or her gender identity, the particular attributes of the sex-role being dependent upon the social environment in which he or she grows up. The gender anomalies reveal the significance of early exposure to androgen in affecting not simply sexual differentiation, but also subsequent patterns of behaviour and interests. The cognitive theory of sex-role differentiation gives a central role to the child's recognition of the biological or physical features which characterize his/her sex.
