What is Gender?

Gender refers to the behavioral, cultural, and psychological traits typically associated with males and females. However this view is limiting since people can be male, female, transgender, genderqueer , gender non-binary, gender non-conforming, or agender, for example. 

What is Gender Assignments?

Babies are usually assigned a male gender at birth if they have a penis, and a female gender if they have a vulva.


Though a person's gender assignment is often correct, in many cases, it is not. This can happen if someone is transgender, has a condition of sex differentiation (often called intersex), or is gender non-binary.

What is Gender Identity?

Gender identity is how someone feels about their gender assignment. Many things contribute to the formation of gender identity, including society, family and factors that are in place before birth.  

What Does it Mean to Be Gender Non-Binary?

Sometimes the term non-binary is used as an umbrella term that can include people who are genderqueer, agender, and genderfluid.

Other times it is an identity of its own.

The term comes from the idea that most people see gender as "binary," or divided into two. These divisions are generally presented as: male and female, man and woman, or for children, boy and girl. 

The binary division also divides people's gender expression, into masculine and feminine behaviors.

People who identify as gender non-binary have gender identities that don't fit into the gender binary.

 

Different Ways People Identify

Some people consider themselves neither men nor women. Others identify as both men and women. It is also possible to be non-binary and identify outside of the male/female divisions, but still identify with a clear gender identity.

Multiple Interpretations of the Non-Binary

Like a lot of terms, gender non-binary is one that different people may interpret in different ways.

For example, some people who are non-binary identify as transgender. Others don't.

Plus, some people who don't identify as only male or female (maybe because they have a condition of sex differentiation or identify as Intersex, or maybe because of their unique gender identity) identify as non-binary.

Self-Identifying is Key 

Of course, while some people who are agender or gender-free embrace the term non-binary, others reject it since they live outside of gender and non-binary is closely related to this concept. 

The Role of Gender Roles

Many societies have strict rules about activities, jobs and appearances which are based on deep-seated ideas about what is appropriate for someone based on their gender. Gender performance refers to how people act and present themselves to the world based on their gender identity. Many people who are gender non-binary reject the gender roles that are expected of their gender assignments and are crafting new ways to present and interact with the world.