Gender Identity and Sexuality

Over the past five years, it would be hard to argue that American society has not made progress in acknowledging the personhood of . From the assent of Vice-President Kamala Harris to the widespread support and actions of the #MeToo movement to the gradual shrinking of the gender pay gap, women are feeling more empowered and more confident in their ability to change the world. These are accomplishments we can be proud of.

Yet it is still difficult to fault women for thinking that we are not moving fast enough. We still hold on biases about the way we think men and women should act in school and the workplace, at home, and in the media. Women are outperforming men at every level of education. They earn 57 percent of the undergraduate degrees and 59 percent of the masters degrees. Yet despite holding 52 percent of all management and professional jobs, they usually hold less than 1/3 of leadership positions. Despite the fact that women are making strides at work, in many cases becoming the bread winners, they are still also the primary caretakers of life at home. Not only are women underrepresented in the media, but in our hypersexualized, clickbait society, the portrayal of women has created unrealistic expectations of body shape, size, and color leading to body dysmorphia and feelings of inadequacy.

From the male perspective, the election of Donald Trump and his strongman, authoritarian style of leadership brought to the forefront that many men, especially those without college degrees, yearned for and identified with his philosophy of hypermasculinity. When trying to explain this, psychologists have posed that men are losing their identities. Loss of manufacturing jobs means losing their traditional role as primary caretaker. Despite working hard, the increasing economic disparities give a sense that the capitalist system they believed in has failed them. This has led to increasing depression, substance abuse, and rates of death from suicide or poor health.

No study of gender identity is complete without discussing non-binary people and their fight for recognition. Non-binary identities include transgender, agender, and gender queer. The model of binary gender and sex, for that matter, are now outdated. Even the idea that gender is a spectrum is being challenged, with newer theories suggesting that gender exists in multiple dimensions rather than a linear scale that can dynamically change throughout one’s life. Nonetheless, those that identify as non-binary deserve to be acknowledged, heard, and respected.

Equally as complex as discussions on gender are discussions of sexual orientation. While also classically seen as a spectrum, it can also exist on a multitude of dimensions when you consider romantic orientation and sexual orientations. Who you are in love with is not necessarily associated with who you might be sexually attracted to when compared to traditional cisgender, straight relationships.

This is just barely scratching the surface of the highly nuanced topic of gender and sexuality studies. But consider it the opening gambit in your journey to enlightenment. Just as an example, entire books and university courses have been created to understand how theories of gender identity and sexual orientation, the challenges of gender equality and activism, and the civil rights of queer and non-binary people in society. How far you explore these ideas is up to you, but, undoubtedly, your understanding will only be enriched the deeper you go.