What
is gender? Much of the work I do involves gender, so it is certainly
something I think about on a regular basis. However, our understanding
of what gender is has changed over time and in different societies. The
history is absolutely fascinating, but for the purposes of this post, I
want to focus only on how it is conceptualized now in our society, and
give brief descriptions of some of the gender identities being used.
When most people think about their own gender, they use their physical bodies, and more specifically their genitalia, to define their gender as either a man or a woman. This works fine for many people, because their gender identity and their physical body are in agreement. However, it is not always the case that gender and physical body agree (I am saying physical body instead of sex intentionally. Often the word sex, or biological sex, is used instead of physical body, and while that often works, their are also folks whose physical bodies - genitals and secondary sexual characteristics - don't match their hormonal levels or chromosomal make-up. For this reason I use the phrase physical body, to avoid conflating any of the above factors when they really shouldn't be).
Okay, so then gender identity can be thought of as a person's internal sense of who they are as a gendered being, or what gender they identify with. It used to be, in our society at least, that gender was limited only to male and female, and was assumed to be consistent with physical body, so something that couldn't be changed. Last century, some brave individuals and their medical providers started exploring the idea of gender and physical body not matching, and looking at ways to bring them into alignment. One of those ways was attempts to use therapy to help a person change their gender identity so that it agreed with their physical body. Therefore, if someone had a penis and the ability to grow facial hair, they were encouraged to open themselves to the "fact" that they are male and should identify as such. Likewise, someone with a vagina and breasts would be encouraged to identify as a woman, even if that went against their internal sense of self.
That treatment failed dismally, with people simply being unable to changed their gender identity. Consequently, some individuals and their medical providers explored ways to change their physical bodies to be more aligned with their gender. Today we understand this process as transitioning, which may include the use of hormone therapy and gender-confirming surgery (but not always).
Another shift that we have seen more recently is the idea that gender is not limited to only male or female, pick one, for each individual. Certainly for many people they are able to choose one, and it is the same as the one assigned at birth. For others they can also pick one, but it is not the one they were assigned at birth. However, there is a portion of the population whose internal sense of gender does not fit neatly into the categories of male or female. There are a number of identities being used now that describe gender beyond just male or female. Some of them include agender, genderfluid, genderqueer, bi-gender, and nonbinary.
Agender, genderfluid, nonbinary, and bi-gender describe someone whose identity is not man or woman, may fall on a spectrum that includes masculinity and femininity, or feels as though they do not have a gender. Genderfluid indicates that gender may shift for some people, such that some days they feel more masculine and some days more feminine. These gender identities are all real, as we realize that gender is much more complex than the male and female boxes we have tried to put everyone into up until recently.
When most people think about their own gender, they use their physical bodies, and more specifically their genitalia, to define their gender as either a man or a woman. This works fine for many people, because their gender identity and their physical body are in agreement. However, it is not always the case that gender and physical body agree (I am saying physical body instead of sex intentionally. Often the word sex, or biological sex, is used instead of physical body, and while that often works, their are also folks whose physical bodies - genitals and secondary sexual characteristics - don't match their hormonal levels or chromosomal make-up. For this reason I use the phrase physical body, to avoid conflating any of the above factors when they really shouldn't be).
Okay, so then gender identity can be thought of as a person's internal sense of who they are as a gendered being, or what gender they identify with. It used to be, in our society at least, that gender was limited only to male and female, and was assumed to be consistent with physical body, so something that couldn't be changed. Last century, some brave individuals and their medical providers started exploring the idea of gender and physical body not matching, and looking at ways to bring them into alignment. One of those ways was attempts to use therapy to help a person change their gender identity so that it agreed with their physical body. Therefore, if someone had a penis and the ability to grow facial hair, they were encouraged to open themselves to the "fact" that they are male and should identify as such. Likewise, someone with a vagina and breasts would be encouraged to identify as a woman, even if that went against their internal sense of self.
That treatment failed dismally, with people simply being unable to changed their gender identity. Consequently, some individuals and their medical providers explored ways to change their physical bodies to be more aligned with their gender. Today we understand this process as transitioning, which may include the use of hormone therapy and gender-confirming surgery (but not always).
Another shift that we have seen more recently is the idea that gender is not limited to only male or female, pick one, for each individual. Certainly for many people they are able to choose one, and it is the same as the one assigned at birth. For others they can also pick one, but it is not the one they were assigned at birth. However, there is a portion of the population whose internal sense of gender does not fit neatly into the categories of male or female. There are a number of identities being used now that describe gender beyond just male or female. Some of them include agender, genderfluid, genderqueer, bi-gender, and nonbinary.
Agender, genderfluid, nonbinary, and bi-gender describe someone whose identity is not man or woman, may fall on a spectrum that includes masculinity and femininity, or feels as though they do not have a gender. Genderfluid indicates that gender may shift for some people, such that some days they feel more masculine and some days more feminine. These gender identities are all real, as we realize that gender is much more complex than the male and female boxes we have tried to put everyone into up until recently.
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