This may be responsible for gender identity misidentification when factors other than apparent external genital structure conflict with other elements. For this reason, Fausto-Sterling argues that infants born with ambiguous genitalia should not receive surgery until later in life when they begin to express their natural gender identity. Sex Hormones vs. Steroid Hormones:

Faustino-Sterling also objects to the very definition of human steroid hormones as "sex hormones" because they exert many more effects on the developing human body than merely those related to determining gender and sexuality. The author traces the history of traditional views about the role of human hormones and gender back to experiments on rodents before World War II through the Organizational/Activational Model of hormone activity (p214) based on the effects of exposure...

Instead, Fausto-Sterling argues that human gender identity occurs across a wide range and that rather than gender being determined at birth, it is more likely a process of a "body [that] is continuously being born and remodeled in an environment that starts before birth and continues until death" (p56).
References Cited

Fausto-Sterling, Anne

(2000) Sexing the Body: Gender Politics and the Construction of Sexuality. Basic Books.