... most probably Freud's. It claims that children develop an understanding of gender when they recognise the significance of the differences. His theory contains ideas surrounding infantile sexuality, and the development of the self within the first five years of life. During this period, a child passes through three distinct psychosexual stages of the development, which are: the oral, anal and phallic stages. These are linked to biological aspects of the individual. In the oral stage, babies insert virtually anything into their mouths, according to Freud for sexual gratification. The anal stage is when the children are fascinated with their anuses and everything that comes out of them. The phallic stage is when the child acknowledges that they have genitalia, and become curious as to the purpose of it-this includes a lot of touching of the genitalia. According to Freud, gender identity is formed during the phallic stage, which is when the ...

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