Identity v. Expression

A lot of people do not get what is the difference between gender identity and gender expression. For most people they are aligned and they see only “gender” but I like to think of it as looking down a line of telephone poles. When you are aligned with the poles you see only the first telephone pole. However, is you step aside you see that there are actually two telephone poles. The same is true for gender identity and expression, they are two poles.

I came across this article posted on Facebook…

Separating Out Gender Identity from Gender Expression
Everyday Feminism
By Wiley Reading
May 15, 2014

I’ve let my hair grow out so long that I have to put it in pigtails when I ride my bike so it doesn’t get caught in my helmet straps. I’m wearing my girlfriend’s tiny turquoise athletic shorts. My legs are closely shaved, and I’m sitting curled up on the couch with a game of Candy Crush on my phone to my right and a sleeping cat to my left.

I sound like a girl, right?

I’m not.

Why? Because I don’t identify as one.

And although it really is as simple as that, I understand where some people have trouble: “If you express yourself in this way,” they wonder, “then doesn’t that imply that that is how you identify?”

Nope.

When I was taking part in group discussions between LGBT people and their allies at the invitation of a friend at a retreat for Quakers, in one of the discussions there were on one side of the room three gender non-conforming teens and twenty somethings and on the other side were older lesbians and gays. The lesbians and gays didn’t understand why the “kids” wanted to include in their introduces your preferred pronoun, the reason why they didn’t understand why to also include gender pronouns was not everyone’s gender identity and expression line up.

The article goes on to say,

Although gender identity and gender expression can be related, the point is that they don’t have to be.

So what’s the difference?

And the article goes on,

Gender identity is internal, deeply-rooted, and a central part of many people’s senses of self.

For example, I identify as masculine-of-center. If I were to say “I am a woman,” it would feel as ridiculous as if I were saying “I am a dinosaur.”

Gender expression, on the other hand, is what everyone around us can see.

Gender expression is the way in which you express your gender.

Sometimes these expressions go along with socially sanctioned ideas of what is appropriate. For example, we live in a society that deems dresses appropriate for women, but not for men. But sometimes they don’t.

You may identify as a woman and dress in a traditionally feminine way. You may identify as a woman and dress in a traditionally masculine way. The point is that the two aren’t necessarily related.

Just as sex is a continuum so is gender as is identity and expression not linked and is a continuum. And just to throw a monkey wrench into the whole mixture, sexual orientation is also not linked and is a continuum.

The author goes on to talk about being misgender and the gender spectrums.

It’s pretty normal to be shocked, or surprised, or even uncomfortable when you come across someone breaking gender barriers.

We’re all socialized to think of gender as a fixed, unchanging, biologically imparted quality.

But a little critical thinking reveals that this is a falsehood, and a little open mindedness gives you access to a world of freedom with regards to gender.

Gender “creativity” is getting less and less stigmatized, so there’s more art and fashion and media than ever that showcases people with non-traditional gender presentations. Check it out!

And if it feels right to you, experiment with your own gender presentation.

Attacks on LGBT people is not because they are lesbians, or gay, or bi, or trans but because their gender expression does not fit the society’s norms. Think about that.

One of my slides in my workshop presentations is…

Visual non-conformity is a risk factor in causing anti-transgender bias and its attendant social and economic burdens

If you blend into society you do not get discriminated against but if you don’t…