In recent years, there have been new findings that have radically changed the way many of us view sexuality and gender. Today's youth will have a new and prejudice-free understanding of these topics. That's great, but what about the rest of us who have completed our formal education, or are already being taught outdated sex ed programming?
In the United States, 80% of schools are failing government standards for sex ed. In turn, this lack of education has resulted in the ignorance and mistreatment of trans and gender non-conforming individuals. Let's take a look at sex, gender, and orientation. Here's a brief look at their differences, what we can change, and what we can't. Sex.
Sex is what lies between our legs. It is the physiology we are born with. Our sex consists of our biological makeup, which can include things like our genitals, our secondary sex characteristics, our placement of body hair, hip width, our hairlines, and our chromosomal makeup.
As you might know, your chromosomal makeup can determine sex characteristics that are typical of males or females. The problem with relying solely on science to determine someone's gender? Biology can be tricky. Having male or female typical chromosomes doesn't always lead to the secondary sex characteristics typical to that sex.
People with male typical XY chromosomal combinations may actually exhibit female characteristics instead. This contrast between makeup and characteristics is what many call intersex. Intersex individuals often do not fit typical definitions of male or female bodies.
Gender. Gender is a construct. I know we've all heard this before, we hear people say it all the time, but what does it actually mean? Well, it means gender is what we make it out to be. Our genders consist of two things.
The first is our gender identity. This is what we think about ourselves and how we interpret gender. The second is our gender expression.
Gender expression is how we demonstrate our gender in our behaviors, mannerisms, and forms of dress. Gender also consists of the societal expectations and stereotypes we place on people. We often base these expectations off of their sex characteristics. You may have heard of some of these typical stereotypes. Pink for girls, blue for boys.
Action figures versus dolls? Long hair versus buzz cuts? Women must be feminine while men must be masculine.
This is not to discredit or disrespect any girly girls or manly men out there. Many of us feel comfortable in our expected genders, and that's perfectly okay. But of course, there are a number of people who don't want to adhere to every norm. Different people view and express their gender differently. There are some people who do not identify with the gender role the world has given them, and so they identify as another.
These are transgender people. There are also people who prefer to have both or neither of the traditional man-woman gender titles. These are non-binary or genderqueer people.
Orientation. Orientation is about who we like. Orientation is about the sex-gender combination, or lack thereof, that we are most attracted to. Most people are heterosexual.
They are attracted to people of the opposite gender. Homosexual people are attracted to those of the same gender. Bisexual people are attracted to people of both genders. Some people couldn't care less about gender.
To some, it's all about the appeal of masculine or feminine energy. Some people are pansexual. This means that they are capable of falling for someone regardless of their sex or gender presentation. A lot of people seem to think this one's a choice, but we all just feel what we feel. Our urges are innate and made subconsciously.
The only choice anyone has about who they fall for is the choice to pursue them or not. Please remember, these definitions are brief and sexuality is vast and complicated. Some of this is obvious to many of you, but considering the statistics we have on sex education today, a lot of us may benefit from this information. If you'd like to see more on this topic, you can view the full article using the link below.
Psych2Go has a new LGBT section dedicated to more topics like this one. Interested? Head on over to psych2go.net for more. Do you have any opinions of your own about sex, gender, and orientation? Is there a video you would like to see Psych2Go make?
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