SEX AND GENDER: WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?
Many people confuse sex and gender, or use the two interchangeably. Many wrongly assume that sex defines gender, when in reality gender identity is a living, growing experience that can change over time. It can be tough for transgender and nonbinary people to constantly educate or be subjected to the other’s curiosity, so one of the best ways to be an ally is to educate yourself on the basics of gender identity and expression, so you can better support others.
Sex
Sex is the classification of a person as male, female, or intersex. When we are born, doctors usually decide whether female or male will be listed on our birth certificate. This sex assignment at birth is typically based solely on one’s genitals, however sex characteristics also include chromosomes, gonads, and sex hormones. Our sex assigned at birth may or may not correspond to our gender. Someone’s sex characteristics are their personal information, and you do not need to know someone’s sex assigned at birth to be respectful of their gender identity. When someone shares their gender identity with you, it’s inappropriate to assume or try to deduce that person’s sex assigned at birth. Rather, believe others when they share their gender identity with you and support them.
Gender
Gender describes our internal understanding and experience of our own gender identity. Each person’s experience of their gender identity is unique and personal, and cannot be known simply by looking at a person.
Common genders include:
• Cisgender: people whose gender identity aligns with the sex they were assigned at birth.
• Transgender: people whose gender identity differs from the sex they were assigned at birth. Many transgender people will transition to align their gender expression with their gender identity, however you do not have to transition in order to be transgender.
• Nonbinary: people who experience their gender identity and/or gender expression as outside of the male-female gender binary. Many other words for identities outside the traditional categories of man and woman may be used, such as genderfluid, genderqueer, polygender, bigender, demigender, or agender. These identities, while similar, are not necessarily interchangeable or synonymous.
• Two-Spirit: a term created by First Nations/Native American/Indigenous peoples whose sexual orientation and/or gender/sex exists in ways that challenge colonial constructions of a gender binary. This term should not be appropriated to describe people who are not First Nations/Native American/Indigenous members.
Adapted from TrevorProject.org
Respecting the language that people use to self-identify their gender is not only polite, it can save lives. In a recent study of transgender youth, using chosen names at home, at school, at work, and with friends reduced depressive symptoms, suicidal ideation, and suicidal behavior.
Pronouns Names and pronouns are a common way to communicate one’s gender. Honoring a person’s name and pronouns shows respect and acknowledgement of their gender and identity. Here are some examples of pronouns that people use, in order of nominative, objective, possessive determiner, possessive pronoun, and reflexive:
• She, her, her, hers, and herself
• He, him, his, his, and himself
• They, them, their, theirs, and themself
• Ze/zie, hir, hir, hirs, and hirself
• Xe, xem, xyr, xyrs, and xemself
• Ve, ver, vis, vis, and verself
Adapted from TrevorProject.org
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