ABSTRACT
This chapter describes some of the best known findings and discuss the connection between genetically determined sex differences and the impact of the environment, both during the foetal period and later in life. Sex hormones play an important role in regulating neural structures and their function. Sex characteristics play out in close interaction between heredity and environment, and for sex characteristics, as for many other human aspects, a person's innate sex-specific potential can only really unfold through culture. Boys and girls who are exposed to traumatic experiences or neglect have different reactions, partly due to the impact of sex hormones. Women who have been exposed to traumatic events in childhood are more likely than men to assume a role of helplessness and to form attachments with violent, domineering men. Sexual identity is determined by the neural receptors that are available to bind oestrogens and androgens when they go into circulation.
