Most people feel that gender is a strong part of their identity - however, most people also think that this identity consists of either being a girl or boy, man or woman and again, these terms are typically used with regards to social and cultural d...
Imagine a bedroom. The walls are painted a deep blue. The shelves are lined with toy soldiers and there is a little crack near the wardrobe where the room's occupant got adventurous with their remote-controlled rocket. At this particular moment in time, the room is quite messy; the energy and enthusiasm of childhood is clearly shown.
As Helen - the child's mother - climbs up the stairs, she notices that the sign 'ALEX'S ROOM' has fallen of the handle again - the thread must be wearing thin. She puts it back in its rightful place and enters the room. She plans to clean it whilst Alex is out at football practice. There is a game on tomorrow and she wants to watch it. She hopes that Alex will score a goal; football training has been a routine in their lives long enough now. She starts tidying and after a while hears her husband telling her that he is going to pick Alex up.
About half an hour later, they both arrive home and Alex runs up the stairs, a bundle of mud and excited chatter about the morning's events. It seems like the team is hopeful for the match tomorrow.
So, I'll let you know that Alex did score a goal - the winning goal, in fact. To celebrate, the family went shopping and bought Alex some new football boots and a dress.
Sorry, what?
A dress?
Um, yeah.
Wait - you didn't think Alex was a girl?
Well, why not? Why should a certain physical anatomy dictate your affinity towards kicking a ball? Or liking a certain colour?
Hmm, okay. Before I go on, I'll whip up a list of definitions that will help me explain things - WARNING: I AM SUPER BAD AT EXPLAINING THINGS.
List of things that may or may not help any explanations I put forward:
- Gender: the psychological, social, cultural characteristics associated with being typically a girl/women or boy/man.
- Sex: a biological fact, determined by genetalia and hormone levels/production. People are typically:
• Assigned Female At Birth {AFAB}: possessing a vulva, labia, vagina, etc. • Assigned Male At Birth {AMAB}: possessing a penis, testicles, etc. • Intersex: having been born with a reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn't seem to fit the typical definitions of male or female - expect a post on this at some point.
- Gender Identity {GID}: one's innermost concept of being a girl/woman or boy/man {or both or neither or lots of other things that will be attempted to be explained in future posts} - how individuals perceive themselves and what they call themselves. One's GID can be the same or different to the sex assigned at birth.
- Gender Expression {GEX - I like abbreviations, can you tell?}: the way in which we manifest masculinity/femininity/both/lack of either, etc, etc. An extension of GID - the demarcation of hair and clothes and so on. However, GID may not be intrinsically correlated with GEX - for example, although Alex's GEX may be mainly masculine, their GID could still be that of a female, consistent with her biological sex.
- Gender Roles: set of societal norms dictating the typical behaviours which are generally considered acceptable, appropriate or desirable for people based on their actual or perceived GID.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
