When people think of gender, they often think about body parts, clothes or how a person looks and acts. But we also have a gender identity. This is the gender that we identify with, the gender that we know ourselves to be and it is part of our internal sense of self.

Our gender identity can be very important to who we are as a person. Some people are men, some people are women, and some people are non-binary (which means they identify as neither 100% a man nor 100% a woman). You can describe your gender however feels most comfortable to you. A trans person is someone whose gender is different to the one they were assigned at birth.

Your gender is not determined by your body parts. People come in many different shapes and sizes. Imagine you woke up one day in a different body. Would anything change on the inside? No! You would be the same person you were before, with the same sense of your own gender.

Your gender identity doesn’t mean you have to wear certain clothes or look a certain way either. Some men are very feminine. Some women are very masculine. Everyone is unique and has their own style and presentation. This is called gender expression. You don’t have to fit a stereotype of what you think a man or a woman should look like.

You can’t tell another person’s gender just by looking at them. The only person who can really know your gender is you.

Your gender identity is about who you are and your sense of self; your sexuality/sexual orientation is about who you are attracted to.

A person’s sexual orientation, or sexuality, is the part of their identity that relates to who they find attractive/who they fancy. Although it’s in the name, the attraction to other people does not have to be sexual, it could be romantic. Some people are attracted to a particular gender/genders, some people are attracted to who the person is (their morals, values, humour, intelligence, etc.), and for some, it’s a combination of the two. Attraction can feel different for different people; it can involve wanting to be around a person more, thinking about them when you are not with them “butterflies” in your stomach, feeling giddy or nervous when you are together and more.

Extract from The Proud Trust