Gender

**Gender** is a socially constructed phenomenon. The word gender on its own often refers specifically to gender identity. However, it is also a general term for the different aspects of gender. This includes gender identity, but also includes gender expression, presentation, modality, alignment, and roles, among other things.

Gender is characterized largely by the behavioral, cultural, and psychological traits often associated with a particular sex. However, while the societal understanding of gender is largely influenced by assumptions and roles regarding different sexes, gender and sex are not the same thing. Sex refers to the language surrounding physical sex characteristics, such as hormones, genitalia, and chromosomes. Gender, on the other hand, is a complex combination of the roles, norms, expression, aesthetics, performances, social interactions, and identities which are given specific meanings by society. Gender and sex also may not necessarily align, such as in the case of transgender and nonbinary people. The ways in which gender is defined varies from culture to culture, as well as from person to person.

## Aspects of gender

Gender is made up of many different elements. This includes, but is not limited to, the different aspects of gender listed here.

### Gender alignment

**Gender alignment** refers to the ways in which one is aligned with a specific gender, without necessarily experiencing that identity. Gender alignment is often associated with nonbinary people, but isn't exclusive to them. Alignment terminology has various meanings depending on the person, but may refer to:

* Being able to understand and explain one's gender through comparison to another gender
* The genders which one's own gender is similar to, but is not necessarily the same as
* The genders which one experiences partially, but not fully
* The ways in which one's gender is related to other genders
* The experiences one has in common with specific genders
* The ways in which one's gender interacts with patriarchy
* The connection one has to specific genders, or the ties they have to those genders
* The ways in which one experiences their sexuality (for example: "I experience queer sexuality like a (wo)man")
* The social category they belong to, the way in which they present, or the genders other people read them as

### Gender expression

**Gender expression** refers to the ways in which one expresses their gender externally. This may refer to the name and pronouns one uses, the way one dresses or behaves, or other ways in which gender may be externally expressed.

### Gender identity

**Gender identity** refers to a person's internal sense of gender. Gender identity cannot be visibly observed; however, it may be conveyed through one's words and gender expression. One's gender identity may or may not align with one's sex or birth assignment, such as in the case of transgender and nonbinary people.

### Gender modality

**Gender modality** refers to the relationship between one's gender identity and one's sex and/or birth assignment. The two primary gender modalities are transgender and cisgender; however, there are additional gender modalities that one may experience.

### Gender presentation

**Gender presentation** refers to the ways in which other people perceive someone's gender. This is related to gender expression, but is not synonymous with it, due to the fact that gender expression refers to how one chooses to express themselves externally, whereas gender presentation refers to how one is perceived by others. One's gender presentation does not necessarily reflect one's gender identity, and presentation is not always a reliable way to accurately guess a person's gender.

### Gender quality

**Gender quality**, or **gender characteristic**, refers to the various characteristics which may apply to one's gender expression or gender identity. Examples of gender qualities include feminine, masculine, neutral, androgynous, epicene, and null.[*source?*]

### Gender roles

**Gender roles**, or **gender norms**, are the cultural expectations placed upon specific genders. These roles dictate how one is supposed to act, dress, identify, or otherwise express oneself, based on their gender. For example, women are expected to embody femininity, while men are expected to embody masculinity. Gender roles often accompany cisnormativity; this is the expectation that people must be cisgender, or must otherwise strive to mimic conformant cisgender modality.

Gender roles and cisnormativity are both influenced by biological essentialism, which is the belief that men and women naturally have unique biological traits, and that these traits exist in direct opposition to each other. These beliefs are rooted in the gender binary, and to not take into account the existence of nonbinary and intersex individuals. People who do not conform to gender roles may identify as gender nonconforming.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Understanding Gender Identities. The Trevor Project (2021-08-23). Archived from the original on November 21, 2021.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Gender Definition & Meaning. Merriam-Webster.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Gender (English). The Trans Language Primer. Archived from the original on November 2, 2021.
4. ↑ Transgender People. GLAAD. Archived from the original on October 22, 2021.
5. ↑ Transgender (Trans) (English). The Trans Language Primer. Archived from the original on February 10, 2022.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 Gender alignment. Nonbinary Wiki. Archived from the original on August 10, 2022.
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Mod Lune (2018-01-18). we don't care about your binary's post. Archived from the original on October 16, 2021.
8. ↑ Gender Expression (English). The Trans Language Primer. Archived from the original on November 2, 2021.
9. ↑ Gender Identity (English). The Trans Language Primer. Archived from the original on November 5, 2021.
10. ↑ Ashley, Florence (2019-02-28). Gender modality: Proposal for new terminology (English). Medium.
11. ↑ Ashley, Florence (2019-03-27). 'Trans' is my gender modality: A Modest Terminological Proposal (English).
12. ↑ Gender Presentation. The Trans Language Primer. Archived from the original on December 5, 2021.
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Gender Roles / Norms (English). The Trans Language Primer.
14. ↑ Cisnormativity (English). The Trans Language Primer.
15. ↑ Biological Essentialism (English). The Trans Language Primer.
16. ↑ Gender nonconforming Definition & Meaning. Merriam-Webster.
17. ↑ Gender Non-Conforming (GNC) (English). The Trans Language Primer.