Development of Sexual Behavior

Stages of Development: Infancy

Gender Role Behavior

The expression “sexual behavior” can definitely be applied to infants in the sense of gender role behavior, i.e. behavior that expresses the child’s feminine or masculine character.
At birth, every child is immediately identified as either a girl or a boy, and this has far-reaching consequences. The baby’s first name and color of clothing establish the gender role, and the reactions shown by the attending adults then confirm, stabilize, and refine it. (Different cultures use different gender-typical names and colors, and, over time, there may also be changes within the same culture. In any case, the details of the distinction do not matter as much as the distinction itself.) In the first years of life, the expected and suggested gender role differences may still be subtle and unobtrusive, but they are there and will become more pronounced as the child grows older. (For exceptions to an immediate determination of sex at birth, see “Intersexuality”.)

Baby girl                                            Baby boy