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GENDER SPECTRUM- BEYOND THE BINARY

 



Throughout our lives we have been bound to the stereotype of being bound to narrow gender norms. Most people think that gender is simply male and female, pink and blue, plainly binary. When we meet a new-born baby, most of us ask the same question: boy or girl? Often, the answer is easy. Often, but not always. We often assume a person’s gender by looking at their physical appearance. Anyone withlonger hair, wearing a dress or makeup, we automatically consider female. Anyone with a buzz cut and broad shoulders, our brain quickly considers the person male. People frequently mistake sex and gender. Sex is purely anatomical. In simple terms, sex is what is between your legs and gender is what is between your ears. For most kids, birth sex and gender identity match. This population is referred to as being cisgender. In some cases, though, children’s gender identity differs from their biology. For others, their sense of gender exists somewhere between male and female, at various points along what is known as the gender spectrum. There is a simple ideology to understand the thought process of someone who identifies as being on the gender spectrum, the narrow confines of the binary birth sex do not match what they feel about themselves. Gender identity is how we feel on the inside and gender expression is how we present our gender to the world through hairstyle, clothing and behaviour. Gender expression is often curtailed by our society’s gender norms - the expectations and assumptions that govern how a girl or boy is supposed to look, act, dress and play. Male and Female is an extremely restricted confine to put on anyone to identify their gender. Gender is fluid and thus people should feel free to move beyond the binary and truly express their true selves. 


Written by- Rhea telang    roll no: 276

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