What are the different types of gender identity?
Gender is different from sex. Although genetic factors generally determine a person’s sex, gender refers to how the person identifies with themselves. Only the person themselves can determine what their gender identity is.
This article will discuss what gender identity is, some definitions of the different gender identities, and where people can find support. It will also explore how gender exists on a spectrum.
What is gender identity?
The term gender identity refers to a person’s personal sense of their gender.
Since a person’s sex and gender identity do not have to be identical, it is important to know the difference between them.
GENDER
A person’s gender is what they identify with internally and how they express it externally. People can express the gender they identify with through clothing, appearance, and behavior.
The World Health Organization (WHO) states that gender is a social construct that people generally describe in terms of femininity and masculinity. In Western cultures, people associate femininity with women and masculinity with men, but this social construct varies from culture to culture.
However, gender is not clearly divided along the binary lines of “male” and “female”.
SEX
A person’s gender is usually based on certain biological factors, such as reproductive organs, genes, and hormones.
Like sex, gender is not binary. A person may have genes associated with male or female, but their reproductive organs, genitals, or both may look different.
This is called differences in sexual development. These differences in sexual development can also be called intersex.
People generally use the terms “male,” “female,” or “intersex” to refer to a person’s gender.
Gender identity and spectrum
A person’s gender identity is more than just being a man or a woman.
Some people identify with no gender, while others identify with more than one gender.
According to The Trevor Project, a person’s gender can be composed of the following characteristics:
GENDER IDENTITY
This term refers to an individual’s personal sense of gender.
Some people identify as a man, while others identify as a woman. Others may identify as neither, or somewhere in between.
EXPRESSION AND PRESENTATION OF GENDER
It’s about how a person expresses themselves to others and how they want to be seen by the world.
A person can present themselves as all male or all female. Or a person can present themselves as androgynous or non-binary.
Gender expression and presentation includes aspects such as manners, style of dress, nouns, and pronoun choices, to name a few.
