Genital Knowledge and Gender Constancy in Preschool Children

This article challenges the widely cited view that the cognitive-developmental level of preschool children prevents them from conserving sex across perceptual transformations-from attaining "gender constancy." Shortcomings in the procedures previously used to assess gender constancy are reviewed, and an empirical study is reported which uses both a new measure of gender constancy and a new test of a child's genital knowledge. It was found that 40% of 3-, 4-, and early 5-year-old children could conserve sex across perceptual transformations, but only if they had the domain-specific knowledge that the genitalia constitute the defining attributes of male and female. Girls had significantly more genital knowledge than boys and displayed more gender constancy. A possible link between a child's genital knowledge and his or her gender traditionalism is discussed.