What is gender? What is sex? Starting sex doesn’t always equal a person(s) gender. Gender is a social construct created on roles, behavior, expression, and identities of girls, women, boys, men, and gender-diverse people. Sex is biological. You can determine a person(‘s) sex by the gene expression chromosomes hormones levels and function, and reproductive/sexual anatomy. 

The reason sex and gender are always mixed up is because of the argument that there are only 2 genders. People tend to confuse gender for sex. There is a difference between the two.

What is gender? 

As mentioned earlier, gender is a social construct. They are related to, but different from gender identity. Gender is a part of your identity and also how you express yourself.

Gender identity is a person‘s internal and individual experience of gender. It is a person’s sense of being a woman or a man, both, or neither. Anywhere along the gender spectrum. A person’s gender identity may or may not be the same as their birth-assigned sex. Gender expression is how a person expresses or presents their gender, such as through makeup, clothing style, body language,  voice, hair, etc. A person chooses a name or pronoun.

What is sex? 

Sex is the physical difference or biological differences between people who are male, female, or intersex. Which is usually assigned at birth. This is where terms like Afab (assigned female at birth) or Amab (assigned male at birth) are commonly used in the trans community. 

What is the Social Construct?

What is a social construct? It’s an idea that has been created and accepted by the people in society. For example, gender is a social construct because society has referred to it as the characteristics of a woman, man, girl, or boy. This would include behaviors and roles associated with girls or women and men or boys as well as relationships between the two.

Gender roles for example were socially constructed. Men go out working and women in the kitchen, and then on from there. These also included the masculinity and femininity referred to as “women” and “men.” Just means women are the feminine ones and boys are masculine ones in relationships or interactions with each other. 

Pronouns

Now pronouns play a big part in gender and sex. As you know, you have pronouns, everyone does. The most commonly used pronouns are she/her or he/him.

Pronouns do not dictate gender and vice versa. As she/her and he/him pronouns are not assigned a gender, for many they are used as examples of masculinity and femininity. As pronouns are for how a person wishes to be referred to. Pronouns do not automatically equal someone’s gender or sex ‘cause just as gender pronouns are a personal and internet thing. No matter if they use she/her or he/him, you don’t assume their gender or sex.

Gender doesn’t equal a person(s) sex. As gender plays a part in identity it is also a part of intersectionality. Now sex is a biological and physical difference between female and male-assigned people at birth, this includes hormone levels and chromosomes. Gender is a social construct created on the roles and behavior of girls and women or boys and men. Though some people identify with the gender-assigned sex given to them at birth others don’t identify with them. These genders such as nonbinary and gender fluid come into play. As does gender identity this one of many that have to do with internal and personal experiences of gender, so how many genders are well most of society says there are only two, but using the terms gender identity and sex right there are more than two genders. Sex and gender are different in many ways.