Transgender identity and intersex

Gender versus sex

Understanding gender, gender identity, and gender expression

It's not uncommon for the terms "sex" and "gender" to be used interchangeably. Yet, it's important to distinguish these two terms. "Sex" refers to a person's biological—or anatomical, if you prefer — identity as male or female. Just as each of us has a biological sex, we each have a gender, too. "Gender" refers to the collective set of characteristics that are culturally associated with maleness or femaleness.

What about "gender identity" and "gender expression"?

"Gender identity" refers to a person's sense of being either male or female. Because this is personally defined, it's not visible to others. "Gender expression", on the other hand, refers to the collection of external characteristics and behaviors—that is, dress, mannerisms, speech patterns—traits that are socially defined as either masculine or feminine. Yet, when gender expression is limited by society's often narrow definitions, people get hurt.

Examples?

Well, for starters, consider that in many societies, heterosexual men are taught not to show emotion—doing so is "unmanly". Consider girls who are labeled "tomboy" or "dyke" when they are doing nothing more than being themselves.

Consider those who are told that certain activities (such as ballet, cheer, martial arts, certain contact sports, figure skating, learning to play a musical instrument) or that certain career choices (such as fashion designer, nurse, choreographer, construction worker, heavy equipment operator) are not gender appropriate.

What image does "construction worker" or "choreographer" conjure in your mind? Is a construction worker a burly male or can a woman be a construction worker? If she is, does this means she is less alluring or feminine than her peers? Is a choreographer a female or can a man be a dancer or choreographer? Does that mean he is effeminate or unmasculine?

Do women typically wear skirts and dresses and men pants and suits? What if a woman wore a suit and tie? What if a man wore a kilt or tunic? People may make harmful assumptions. By the same token, what may be deemed appropriate in a large urban center such as New York or Toronto may be considerably different from what may be deemed acceptable in a small rural community in the Midwest.

While it's true that tolerances differ and simply reflect cultural norms, it's also true that gender roles and gender orthodoxy are hurtful. Hurtful to lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and heterosexuals who don't necessarily conform to stereotypes of "macho men" or "feminine women". More than this, though, they hurt transgender or transsexual people: people whose appearance, personal characteristics or behaviors differ from these stereotypes of how each gender "should" be. Transgender and transsexual individuals are often denied housing or accommodation at hotels and restaurants, harassed at work or school, denied employment or terminated, or worse, beaten or murdered.

Put another way, sexism and gender stereotyping have a powerful, undeniable impact on the legal and social treatment of gay, bisexual, and transgender people.

The reality is that, contrary to what you may think, it's actually more common for an individual to have characteristics stereotypically attributed to the opposite sex. If you look closely at any one person, it's not hard to find traits that may be "gender atypical". What differentiates transgendered people is simply the extent or prevalence of these traits—a preponderance that leads others, as outside observers, to question that individual's gender or sex and often, his or her sexual orientation.

What does all this mean?

Simply put, the definitions of "masculine" and "feminine" varies from culture to culture. What's more, because each of us has a mix of gendered traits, what we define as "masculine" and "feminine" are, in effect, inherently "human" characteristics. Thus to identify transgendered people as a separate or distinct group may actually be arbitrary, misleading, and stigmatizing because it implies they are somehow inherently different from other people.

Why distinguish between "transgender" and "transsexual"?

Most of us experience our gender identity as consistent with our sex: most people born with female bodies also define their gender identity as female. By the same token, most people who are born with male bodies define their gender as male. Most of us has an internal sense that we are male or female.

For a transsexual person, however, mind and body are at odds: there is conflict between that individual's physical sex and his or her gender identity as male or female. Female-to-male (FTM) transsexuals are born with female bodies, but have a predominantly male gender identity. Male-to-female (MTF) transsexuals are born with male bodies, but have a predominantly female gender identity.

Used as an umbrella term to describe a broad range of gender identities and experiences, "transgender", unlike "transsexual", is not a medical or psychiatric diagnosis. Rather, it is an all-encompassing term to denote anyone whose gender identity or gender expression falls outside stereotypical gender definitions. And because "transgender" encompasses a broad range of experience, many transsexual people have been willing to take on the label of "transgender".

Similarly, because their gender expression crosses constraining cultural boundaries and definitions or because they acknowledge that having a same-sex orientation is in itself a challenge, many gay, lesbian, and bisexual people also identify as transgender.

"Transgender" includes but is not limited to:

• Pre-operative, post-operative, and non-operative transsexual people;
• Male and female cross-dressers (sometimes called transvestites, drag queens, or drag kings);
• Intersexed individuals; and
• Men and women, who, regardless of their sexual orientation, are seen as gender atypical.

Some people are seen by others as transgender and are therefore subject to the same threats of discrimination, harassment, and physical violence. For this reason, they are often identified as transgender even if they don't identify as such.