Gender Expression vs Identity
People often get gender expression and gender identity confused, and the differences can be subtle depending on what they mean to each person.
Gender has many layers to it, those layers being biology, identity, and expression.
Biology is assigned sex at birth, as in, what the doctor says you are when they first see your genitals. Identity is your own internal sense of gender, and expression is more so related to parts of the physical appearance that can be easily altered – such as clothes and hair.
Gender Expression:
Includes gender roles – such as what men and women are expected to do within society.
Is how you physically express yourself on the outside.
Includes appearance, clothes, hair, makeup, voice, and name and pronouns, amongst other things.
Culturally is known to be the difference between femininity and masculinity.
Can be influenced by gender identity, but isn’t the same thing.
Can be influenced by society and culture.
Gender expression can be explored by changing the way you dress, cutting your hair, or using makeup, just to name a few examples.
Gender Identity:
Is internal.
Doesn’t always match sex assigned at birth.
Can’t be assumed based on anatomy and physical appearance.
Is not the same as sex – Sex is biological, gender is social.
Not necessarily related to sexuality – The two are separate things.
Not every trans person is also not straight, for example.
Having a gender identity different to your assigned sex at birth means that you fall under the umbrella of being transgender. There are many identities within the trans umbrella, including male, female, non-binary, and more.
An example would be your gender identity being male, when you were assigned female at birth. Your gender expression might also be more feminine than masculine, such as preferring to wear dresses instead of jeans.
This isn’t always the case, as trans women can be tomboys – women who are more stereotypically masculine, for example. And trans men can wear makeup or skirts, which further shows the difference between identity and expression.
People who are trans often get treated poorly by society, which isn’t our fault, as gender identity is innate, and not something you choose.
Exploring your gender identity is something you can do before committing to a label, and even then, that label is free to change as you learn more and more about who you are.
There are many ways that you can help other people exploring their own gender identity, as well as helping yourself if you personally are struggling with it.
