ABSTRACT
In common parlance, male and masculine is treated as signifying the same thing and the same applies to female and feminine. These words aim to classify the sex to which the individual belongs. It is useful to establish a distinction between these words. From a psychoanalytical perspective, the average five-year-old is seen as a child who has reached the “resolution of the oedipal complex”. Even if the average five-year-old has already a very clear view of his gender, we can at times find doubts and even anxieties regarding his sexual identity. Hairstyle, types and colours of clothes, use of toilet equipment, kinds of sports that are practised— there are many details that different cultures, different families associate with the definition of masculinity or femininity. It is important to remember that the child’s behaviour is seldom the result of a conscious, deliberate analysis of how to tackle life.
