Gender Identity and Gender Diversity: Psychoanalytic Approach

The purpose of this study was to analyze and generalize theoretical and clinical material, evaluate the causes and consequences of the observed increase in gender diversity. At the same time, the hypothesis was put forward that the observed rapid expansion of the gender spectrum may, in fact, be an escape from differentiation and frustration, thus realizing the basic attraction to death. The paper analyzes the concept of gender identity and the development of psychoanalytic approaches to understanding the process of gender identification; the research evaluation of the clinical material that formed the basis for the empirical study of specific gender identification is given. Finally, based on the analysis of theoretical and clinical material, using the concept of the "neuter gender" by Andre Greene, hypotheses were put forward about the formation of a specific gender identity based on the narcissistic attraction to death. In conclusion, the data obtained were theorized and considered from the point of view of metapsychology, on the basis of which the conclusion was confirmed about the basic desire for death as a possible cause of the growth of gender variability in modern society.