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In contemporary psychology, normal development is contingent on the establishment of a coherent, universal, stable and unitary ‘core gender identity’. The present study assessed the perception of gender identity in ‘normative’ individuals in Israel using the newly constructed Multi-Gender Identity Questionnaire (Multi-GIQ). The Multi-GIQ includes 32 items assessing gender identity (Feeling like a woman, Feeling like a man, Feeling like both a man and a woman, Feeling like neither), gender dysphoria (Contentment with affirmed gender and the wish to be the ‘other’ gender, Contentment with one’s sexed body) and gender performance (Compliance with gender norms in clothing and language). Of the Men (n = 570) and Women (n = 1585) that participated in the study, over 35% felt to some extent as the ‘other’ gender, as both men and women and/or as neither. Although such feelings were more prevalent and on average stronger in Queers (n = 70), the range of scores for all measures of gender identity was highly similar in Queers and non-Queers. A similar pattern was obtained for measures of gender dysphoria and gender performance. Sexual orientation was not a major contributor to the perception of gender identity in both Men and Women. We discuss our results in view of the current debate around the terminology and diagnostic criteria of gender dysphoria (a substitutive category for Gender Identity Disorder) in DSM-V. We conclude that the current view of gender identity as binary and unitary does not reflect the experience of many individuals, and call for a new conceptualisation of gender, which relates to multiplicity and fluidity in the experience of gender.

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Daphna Joel

Prof. Joel received her PhD in psychology in Tel Aviv University, and joined the faculty of TAU in 1998. She is presently the head of the Psychobiology graduate programme at the School of Psychological Sciences. Her research interests focus on understanding the neural mechanisms of psychopathology. Recently she has expanded her work to research questions related to brain, sex and gender.

Ricardo Tarrasch

Dr Ricardo Tarrasch received his PhD in psychology in Tel Aviv University, and joined the School of Education of TAU in 2011. His research interests focus on the effects of mindfulness training on cognition and brain activity and brain characterisation of dyslexia and inattention subtypes. In addition, he has a rich experience in research methods and data analysis.

Zohar Berman

Ms Berman is a graduate student at the School of Psychological Sciences in Tel Aviv University. She is interested in affective neuroscience and in the complex interactions between environmental and social factors and the brain.

Maya Mukamel

Maya Mukamel earned her PhD in Gender Studies from Bar-Ilan University, in 2009. She is a clinical psychologist and currently teaches in the Graduate School for Creative Arts Therapies at the University of Haifa and in The New School for Psychotherapy in Tel Aviv. Her research interests include gender, politics and culture in psychotherapy, history of psychoanalytic ideas and psycho-politics of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.

Effi Ziv

Effi Ziv (PhD in Gender Studies from Tel Aviv University, 2006) teaches at the Department of Gender Studies at Tel Aviv University and is a psychotherapist in private practice. Among her publications: (2008) Between subordination and resistance: The dialectics of shame apparatus, Theory and Criticism, 32, 99–128 (In Hebrew); (2010) ‘Insidious trauma’ Mafte’akh: Lexical Review of Political Thought (In Hebrew).

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