Gender Identity

What You Need to Know About Gender Identity

By Jax S.

Gender identity is reaching the minds of many this year. There is plenty to know about the topic, as even more people are accepting the idea that there are more than two genders. With this inclusive mindset spreading across the planet, you may want to be in the know of the difference between anatomical sex and gender, the difference between gender identity and expression, what terms are proper and what terms are not, pronouns, the Stonewall riots, organizations that support this cause, and where sexual and romantic orientation fall on this plate.

Here is where the confusion may lie: there is a difference between anatomical sex and gender. And sometimes a person’s sex and gender do not match. You could be born male, female, or intersex, but you may not feel (psychologically) like the one you were assigned or any at all. Some more commonly known gender identities are transgender, cisgender, non-binary, genderfluid, bigender, and agender (see the bottom of the page for definitions).

What makes gender a psychological feature of humans is the difference between gender identity and expression. All humans have a specific way they like to express themselves, whether it be the music they listen to, the films they watch, the clothes they wear, their hair, etc. Anything that you can do to make yourself unique is considered your expression. Gender expression is all of that, except it revolves around common stereotypes that have been put in place for certain genders (such as girls liking pink, makeup, and shopping and boys liking blue, sports, and electronics). Gender identity is tied into expression and how you psychologically feel about you. If you don’t feel like you fall under the typical binary gender stereotypes, then you might be one of the non-binary genders. (It is advised to do more research on the topic if it interests you and if you feel differently about your gender.)

Some terms that you may have been lead to believe to be innocent are not as they seem. While you may intend to be polite, you may hurt someone. For instance, you should always ask someone when you first meet them what their preferred pronouns are, as you should never assume (this includes people you don’t even suspect to fall in the LGBTQIA+ community). See this PDF for more examples, or look up “do’s vs don’ts for lgbt vocab” on Google and select the PDF by thesafezoneproject.com.

Pronouns are super essential to how you address a person, and if the wrong pronoun set(s) is/are used, you could offend someone. Be sure to ask for a person’s pronouns upon introduction, as pronouns are just as important as one’s name. Some examples of pronoun sets are he/him/his, she/her/hers, they/them/theirs, and zhe(or ze)/hir/hirs. Pronouns can be mingled (e.g. they/him)!

The Stonewall riots (also known as the Stonewall uprising and the Stonewall rebellion) were a series of events revolting against anti-LGBTQIA+ actions (these actions were typically actions performed by figures with authority). According to Britannica (see link for more), the Stonewall riots took place in 1969 when police raided The Stonewall Inn in New York City, a gay bar that acted as a sanctuary for anyone who fell under the sexual minority and/or the gender-nonconforming category. This had happened many times in the past, but people had often scattered rather than fought. Officials arrested employees for selling alcohol without a license, yet they, in fact, did have one. They also took several people in custody for not wearing at least three articles of gender-appropriate clothing. This struck an uprising, and the queer community was furious.

There are many organizations helping with the fight for acceptance and justice all across the country, but even more specifically, in San Diego. Our city is like its own accepting bubble in the sense that we hold a great community of welcoming people. Some organizations helping this cause are San Diego Pride, GLSEN, GLAAD, The Center in Hillcrest, The TREVOR Project, Free Mom Hugs, PFLAG, and Youth Advocacy. Many schools hold GSA (Gay-Straight Alliance and/or Gender Sexuality Alliance) clubs to help support this cause, too.

Where does sexual and romantic orientation fall on this plate? We all know that the people we are attracted to are often affected by their gender. Some people are attracted to some genders but not another, only one gender, all genders, nobody, etc. This relates to gender identity in the sense that sexual and romantic orientation is often affected by gender in the sense that certain people are attracted to certain genders (or none at all).

I urge you to do your part and accept all of your peers, for we are all different in some way and all deserve the same level of respect and acceptance.

Definitions:

Transgender: someone whose gender identity does not aline with their birth-given sex. The term transgender is often used as a blanket term for anyone who is not cisgender but is more specifically someone who feels like the opposite binary gender.

Cisgender: someone who identifies with their birth-given gender.

Non-binary: someone who does not identify as having a binary gender (male or female). Non-binary can be a blanket term, but many use this to identify.

Genderfluid: someone whose gender identity is not always the same. This does not always mean the person is fluid between female and male; people who are genderfluid can also be fluid between nonbinary genders (and/or a mix).

Bigender: someone who feels they have two genders.

Agender: someone who identifies as not having a gender.

Please see this site for more knowledge on definitions (more definitions are provided).

Photo credit: https://www.kpbs.org/news/2019/mar/21/i-can-exist-here-on-gender-identity-some-colleges/