Let’s Talk About: Gender!

Sex and gender are not the same thing.

Biological sex is a medical classification of male, female or intersex, and is usually assigned at birth. Its got to do with hormones, chromosomes and the genetic instructions your body follows as you develop from womb to adulthood.

Gender, on the other hand, is about an individual’s experience of being a woman, man, both or neither. In other words, its a spectrum with which everyone has a different relationship.

Examples of gender identities include:

• Cisgender - people whose gender assigned at birth aligns with their personal experience of their gender. For example, a cis woman was assigned female at birth, and identifies as a woman.

• Transgender - someone whose gender assigned at birth does not align with their personal experience of their gender.

• Nonbinary - an umbrella term for people whose gender experience is outside the male/female binary, and may or may not also identify as transgender. Nonbinary people may identify as both male and female, neither male nor female, or somewhere else along the gender spectrum. Examples of nonbinary gender identities include bigender (identifying as both male and female), genderfluid (someone whose gender is not fixed and varies over time), and agender (someone who does not identify with any gender), though this is by no means a complete list.

How do you figure out your gender?

Good question! Everyone’s experience with gender is different and there’s no one way to determine what gender identity fits you best. For some people, its very straightforward, and for others, it takes time to fully understand.

How do you know what someone else’s gender identity is?

Ask! It is not always obvious how someone will identify and you should never make assumptions. It is always best to ask. You can help to normalize asking what pronouns a person uses by telling people your own pronouns when you introduce yourself! (For example, I can say, “Hi, I’m Eva and I use she/her pronouns. How about you?”)

Still having trouble understanding? Here’s an analogy to help you out. Gender is sometimes like being right- or left-handed. Its not something you can physically tell about a person just by looking at them, but it is an innate feeling that we each have that impacts how we view ourselves and how we interact with the world around us.

Some general tips!

Gender is NOT:

• related to what body parts a person has.

• something you can tell just by looking at someone.

• related to a person’s sexual orientation.

Gender is:

• a spectrum!

• experienced differently by everyone!

• complicated! Sometimes it takes a while for people to figure out their gender identity, and that’s ok! And sometimes, a person’s understanding of their gender changes over time, and that’s ok too!

But most importantly, ALWAYS respect other people’s names and pronouns, and be kind :)

Thanks for reading!

~ Eva M.