Your gender identity

Your gender is how you feel about yourself:

• Your internal and personal sense of being a boy or man, or a girl or woman, both, or another gender
• The way you communicate, behave and identify with others
• The acceptance or non-acceptance of your ‘membership’ to society and attitudes and behaviours it expects of you

It’s not about whether you were born with a penis or a vagina.

Gender or gender identity is generally accepted to be a social invention and hundreds if not thousands of years old, depending on how far back in our history you want to look.  This means it does not exist naturally but rather is a series of ideas, rules, conventions, and expectations that have evolved to enable society to function (usually for the majority). However, this may not reflect how you truly feel, behave, or define yourself. Society’s categories or pigeonholes of masculinity and femininity are acceptable for many, but less so for others.

Non-binary genders and gender variants

These describe ways people experience and express gender that don’t fit neatly into the idea that there are only two genders (man and woman). Some people feel their gender is between, both, neither, or fluid across time. Others may identify with specific terms such as non-binary, genderqueer, agender, or gender-fluid.

“Gender variants” is a broader term that includes anyone whose gender identity or expression differs from traditional expectations linked to being male or female. These identities are not trends or phases. They are long-standing, valid ways people understand themselves, found across cultures and history. Respecting them means using correct names, pronouns, and avoiding assumptions about someone’s gender.