People who are assigned female at birth and identify as girls or women and people who are assigned male at birth and identify as boys or men are referred to as cisgender (or cis). Sometimes people may have a gender identity that doesn’t match their biological sex, this is known as people who are Transgender (or trans).Notice that the “T” in LGBTQ+ stands for transgender.
Let’s Talk Gender and Gender identity
Gender and Gender identity:
Gender: is defined as the characteristics and behaviors associated with being male or female
Gender roles: “Socially expected” behaviors and activities that a given society considers appropriate for males and females
Gender Non-Conformity: Behavior or appearance that does not conform to an expected gender role
Gender Identity: How someone chooses to identify themselves by male-ness, female-ness, or in between, gender-queer (doesn’t identify with either gender). For example, transgender is a term to describe a person whose gender identity is assigned at birth may not match their personal gender identity
Gender Expression: The way a person expresses a particular gender through appearance, speech, behavior or movement
Gender Binary: The belief system that represents gender as two distinct and opposite catergories-male and female
Gender Expansive: A more flexible range of gender identities or expressions
Biological Sex: or assigned at birth, refers to the doctor typically identifying you as a male or female at birth based on the appearance of your genitals and sexual organs. Biological sex isn’t just male or female; people can be born with different chromosomes or hormones and may be identified differently
JUST SO YOU KNOW:
Gender and sexual orientation are two different things.
Sexual orientation refers to a person’s sexual identity, whereas gender identity refers to how someone perceives themselves in relation to their assigned sex at birth (i.e. cisgender, transgender, agender).