ABSTRACT
The intersexed and transsexual individuals form only a small proportion of the general population. Gender identity is usually considered to be a secondary phenomenon, developing in the context of the classic Oedipus complex between three and five years of age, or in the early genital phase, i.e. in the second half of the second year of life. Identity is a belief which comes to people from their interpretation of messages communicated by their parents, an interpretation which is, generally speaking, reinforced by the events which take place in their bodies and the attitude of other people towards them. Psychic bisexuality is the rule. Cultural traditions are so embedded in each of us that women have a specific kind of guilt feeling as regards success in their chosen profession. Women now do work that used to be thought of as masculine. As early as the First World War, women were replacing men in the workplace.
