The Gender Spectrum Explained
Up until recent decades has gender and biological sex been two different entities and have been defined differently more openly. Even now at times they are still “used interchangeably and thus incorrectly. This idea has become so common, particularly in western societies, that it is rarely questioned.”[1] Talking and informing about the wide spectrum, which is gender, is something that needs to be talked about and advocated for. Learning about how gender has evolved, in a sense, will just bring people a bigger sense of acceptance towards those who don’t see themselves as just a ‘boy’ or a ‘girl’ based on only what is under their pants. Understanding that there are so many different aspects in just the LGBTQ, Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer, community alone is such a wide thing to grasp in itself. The gender spectrum is just that-a spectrum, not just two things that we have decided to be called based on what genitals we are born with. We must learn that everyone is different and that we are so different now than how we were even a couple of years ago. “Yet biological sex and gender are different; gender is not inherently nor solely connected to one’s physical anatomy.”[2]
[1] "Understanding Gender." https://www.genderspectrum.org/quick-links/ understanding-gender/. Last modified 2016. Accessed January 24, 2017. https://www.genderspectrum.org/quick-links/understanding-gender/.
[2] "Understanding Gender." https://www.genderspectrum.org/quick-links/ understanding-gender/. Last modified 2016. Accessed January 24, 2017. https://www.genderspectrum.org/quick-links/understanding-gender/.
[1] "Understanding Gender." https://www.genderspectrum.org/quick-links/ understanding-gender/. Last modified 2016. Accessed January 24, 2017. https://www.genderspectrum.org/quick-links/understanding-gender/.
[2] "Understanding Gender." https://www.genderspectrum.org/quick-links/ understanding-gender/. Last modified 2016. Accessed January 24, 2017. https://www.genderspectrum.org/quick-links/understanding-gender/.
As a culture, we judge people we meet for the first time from what they look like and the first thing we usually see is if the individual is a male or female and sometimes we even doubt ourselves on this. Why though, does it matter what sex they are? Why do we assume that because they look male, they are male or that because they look female, they are female? See, gender expression, gender identity, and biological sex, are not just one thing with one definition, but have separate definitions that allow them to correlate to something different for each. So why do we see them all as one thing: gender? Society has plagued us with the idea that girls must dress in pink and be over the top sensitive and that boys must dress in blue and be over the top masculine. When did this become a norm? When did we say that it was okay for a girl to be a tomboy, what exactly is a tomboy, and why is this socially accepted? A tomboy is a girl who acts like a boy in the sense that she likes sports, wears boy clothes once in a while, and likes to do 'boy' things etc, but eventually grows out of it and continues to live life as who they were born as, a female. Furthermore, when did we decide that we weren't going to give a term like this to boys who like to do 'girl' things besides derogatory names that only let men be looked at as unemotional humans? When did we start putting people in boxes based on what was under their clothes and why is it that what's under their clothes constitute what gender they are overall?
When it comes to gender, we have been conditioned to just believe in ‘boy’ and ‘girl’ as the only options you get and those are given to you just by birth. The problem with this is that gender is being looked at with tunnel vision and when it comes down to it, gender identity, gender expression, and biological sex are all separate things that come together to make up gender as a whole. “Biological Gender (sex) includes physical attributes such as external genitalia, sex chromosomes, gonads, sex hormones, and internal reproductive structures. At birth, it is used to assign sex, that is, to identify individuals as male or female. Gender on the other hand is far more complicated. It is the complex interrelationship between an individual’s sex (gender biology), one’s internal sense of self as male, female, both or neither (gender identity) as well as one’s outward presentations and behaviors (gender expression) related to that perception, including their gender role. Together, the intersection of these three dimensions produces one’s authentic sense of gender, both in how people experience their own gender as well as how others perceive it.” [3] Non-Binary, Non-conforming, Transgender, Intersex, Agender, Genderfluid, and so many other individuals are valid and should be acknowledge with the same respect and view as a cisgender person, one “whose gender identity matches the biological sex they were assigned at birth.”[4]
[3]"Understanding Gender." https://www.genderspectrum.org/quick-links/ understanding-gender/. Last modified 2016. Accessed January 24, 2017. https://www.genderspectrum.org/quick-links/understanding-gender/.
[4] National Geographic, January 2017.
When it comes to gender, we have been conditioned to just believe in ‘boy’ and ‘girl’ as the only options you get and those are given to you just by birth. The problem with this is that gender is being looked at with tunnel vision and when it comes down to it, gender identity, gender expression, and biological sex are all separate things that come together to make up gender as a whole. “Biological Gender (sex) includes physical attributes such as external genitalia, sex chromosomes, gonads, sex hormones, and internal reproductive structures. At birth, it is used to assign sex, that is, to identify individuals as male or female. Gender on the other hand is far more complicated. It is the complex interrelationship between an individual’s sex (gender biology), one’s internal sense of self as male, female, both or neither (gender identity) as well as one’s outward presentations and behaviors (gender expression) related to that perception, including their gender role. Together, the intersection of these three dimensions produces one’s authentic sense of gender, both in how people experience their own gender as well as how others perceive it.” [3] Non-Binary, Non-conforming, Transgender, Intersex, Agender, Genderfluid, and so many other individuals are valid and should be acknowledge with the same respect and view as a cisgender person, one “whose gender identity matches the biological sex they were assigned at birth.”[4]
[3]"Understanding Gender." https://www.genderspectrum.org/quick-links/ understanding-gender/. Last modified 2016. Accessed January 24, 2017. https://www.genderspectrum.org/quick-links/understanding-gender/.
[4] National Geographic, January 2017.
As of right now, about 0.3% of Americans identify as transgender. With the help of Laverne Cox and Caitlin Jenner in the recent years, has being transgender come to light to the majority of the public. It has been brought to the surface through social media, television, newspapers, peaceful protest, and sadly hate crimes. In the NCAVP 2009 report on hate violence, 50 percent of people who died in violent hate crimes against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people were transgender women; the other half were male, many of whom were gender non-conforming.7 Sexual assault and/or genital mutilation before or after their murders was a frequent occurrence[5]. In 2009, 17 percent of all reported violent hate crimes against LGBTQ people were directed against those who identified themselves as transgender, with most (11 percent of all hate crimes) identifying as transgender women.8 The remainder identified as transgender men, genderqueer, gender questioning, or intersex[6]. These hate crimes are absolutely horrible and very hurtful to the LGBTQ community. Although it is very hard to deal with situations like this, these individuals have continued to fight for their rights along side those who aren't transgender, but somewhere along the spectrum with them.
In 1966, the country's first gender identity clinic opened at John Hopkins University, and a year later, the first reassignment surgery was completed in the U.S. [7]. Gender reassignment surgery can be very, very expensive; some averaging from $5,000-$50,000 and some as pricey as $100,000. Some insurances do cover these surgeries and could also cover hormones, Testosterone and Estrogen. Sadly, transgender individuals are still targeted and still at a high percentage of suicide. Disheartening research from the 2011 National Transgender Discrimination Survey reveals that 41% of transgender participants (2,644 out of 6,450) had attempted, at some point, to take their own lives. Sexual assault was the biggest cause, followed by physical assault, harassment in school, and job loss due to bias [8]. At this very moment, 32 states have laws in place that transgender individuals can still be fired or denied employment for their identity. Thankfully, in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington, discrimination is prohibited. In theory, transgender individuals are going to automatically feel better if they allow themselves to be their authentic selves. They feel more comfortable and will in turn feel more at ease and just happier.
[5]Office for Victims of Crime (OVC). Sexual Assault: The Numbers | Responding to Transgender Victims of Sexual Assault. Accessed April 18, 2017. https://www.ovc.gov/pubs/forge/sexual_numbers.html.
[6]Office for Victims of Crime (OVC). Sexual Assault: The Numbers | Responding to Transgender Victims of Sexual Assault. Accessed April 18, 2017. https://www.ovc.gov/pubs/forge/sexual_numbers.html.
[7] Herzog, Ricky. "Sissies, Dolls, and Dancing: Children's Literature and Gender Deviance in the Seventies." The Lion and the Unicorn. February 13, 2009. Accessed April 18, 2017. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/258727/pdf.
[8] "End Trans Discrimination: the Survey." Injustice at Every Turn: A Report of the National Transgender Discrimination Survey [banner]. Accessed April 19, 2017. http://endtransdiscrimination.org/report.html.
In 1966, the country's first gender identity clinic opened at John Hopkins University, and a year later, the first reassignment surgery was completed in the U.S. [7]. Gender reassignment surgery can be very, very expensive; some averaging from $5,000-$50,000 and some as pricey as $100,000. Some insurances do cover these surgeries and could also cover hormones, Testosterone and Estrogen. Sadly, transgender individuals are still targeted and still at a high percentage of suicide. Disheartening research from the 2011 National Transgender Discrimination Survey reveals that 41% of transgender participants (2,644 out of 6,450) had attempted, at some point, to take their own lives. Sexual assault was the biggest cause, followed by physical assault, harassment in school, and job loss due to bias [8]. At this very moment, 32 states have laws in place that transgender individuals can still be fired or denied employment for their identity. Thankfully, in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington, discrimination is prohibited. In theory, transgender individuals are going to automatically feel better if they allow themselves to be their authentic selves. They feel more comfortable and will in turn feel more at ease and just happier.
[5]Office for Victims of Crime (OVC). Sexual Assault: The Numbers | Responding to Transgender Victims of Sexual Assault. Accessed April 18, 2017. https://www.ovc.gov/pubs/forge/sexual_numbers.html.
[6]Office for Victims of Crime (OVC). Sexual Assault: The Numbers | Responding to Transgender Victims of Sexual Assault. Accessed April 18, 2017. https://www.ovc.gov/pubs/forge/sexual_numbers.html.
[7] Herzog, Ricky. "Sissies, Dolls, and Dancing: Children's Literature and Gender Deviance in the Seventies." The Lion and the Unicorn. February 13, 2009. Accessed April 18, 2017. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/258727/pdf.
[8] "End Trans Discrimination: the Survey." Injustice at Every Turn: A Report of the National Transgender Discrimination Survey [banner]. Accessed April 19, 2017. http://endtransdiscrimination.org/report.html.
Gender is an umbrella, a spectrum, and an all of the above option. Properly understanding the Gender Spectrum and gender's difference from biological sex is vital to our future efforts for total equality in America. Gender is not just ‘boy or girl’ anymore, but so much more. To answer the question that I asked in the beginning, Do we still try to understand or do we continue to shun these people? We try to understand. We try to make them feel safe and fight for their rights just as everyone should. Understanding that there are so many different aspects in just the LGBTQ, Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer, community alone is such a wide thing to grasp in itself. The gender spectrum is just that-a spectrum, not just two things that we have decided to be called based on what genitals we are born with. We must learn that everyone is different and that we are so different now than how we were even a couple of years ago.
To those in this community: you are not alone, you matter, your feelings are valid, you are important, and you are amazing.
I am so proud of you and so are many others.
To those in this community: you are not alone, you matter, your feelings are valid, you are important, and you are amazing.
I am so proud of you and so are many others.