SEX AND GENDER AREN’T THE
SAME THING
Trump is having a problem with sex,
and it’s not exactly what you might think. There are no Russian tapes,
spankings with magazines, or confessions of grabbing anyone this time around.
Sex and gender aren’t the same
thing, though many people mistake them for being synonymous.
I was mistaken too, until I began
studying social science. I was born with two X chromosomes and all of the body
parts that come with them.
So I was assigned female (my sex) at birth and I was raised as a girl (my gender). Since my sex (determined by chromosomes, body parts, and hormones) and my gender (all of the non-biological components of what makes you a man or a woman) matched, the two felt synonymous.
So I was assigned female (my sex) at birth and I was raised as a girl (my gender). Since my sex (determined by chromosomes, body parts, and hormones) and my gender (all of the non-biological components of what makes you a man or a woman) matched, the two felt synonymous.
Nothing about my chromosomes or
genitalia created a biological need to do the behavior associated with my
gender: playing with dolls, wearing dresses, polishing my nails. But, as I was
taught as a child that girls do those things, they felt right.
Social scientists say that gender
is something you do, not something you are. We also talk about
something called the “gender binary.” This is the false yet pervasive belief
that there are two, and only two, sexes and genders.
It’s a lot more complicated than that, and not just when it comes to gender. Did you know that being intersex — having both male and female sex characteristics — is actually as common as having red hair?
I’ve always loved being a girl. But
not everyone’s sex lines up with the gender they’re assigned.
A transgender person is someone who was assigned one gender at birth based on their body parts, but identifies as the other gender. A non-binary person is someone who doesn’t identify as either gender.
A transgender person is someone who was assigned one gender at birth based on their body parts, but identifies as the other gender. A non-binary person is someone who doesn’t identify as either gender.
I’ve never personally experienced
what it feels like to be treated as the gender I’m not. That’s my good fortune.
Trans people describe the experience as incredibly painful. Trans man Trystan Reese described it as a matter of life or death: If he couldn’t live as a man, he couldn’t go on living.
Trans people describe the experience as incredibly painful. Trans man Trystan Reese described it as a matter of life or death: If he couldn’t live as a man, he couldn’t go on living.
Yet Trump is now looking to define
gender as the sex assigned as birth, supposedly because that’s “grounded in science.” No it bloody well isn’t, and I
say that as a scientist.
Here’s what is grounded in science: Unless this country stops
discriminating against transgender people and starts protecting them, more
transgender people will die.
Four in ten transgender people attempt suicide. The list of reasons includes bullying, rejection by
friends and family, violence, discrimination, and more.
Trump’s move — if he makes it — will
serve to erase the civil rights of 1.4 million transgender Americans. An
already vulnerable population will needlessly suffer more.
On the other hand, research shows
that transgender people who are supported in their transition — that is,
allowed to live openly and authentically as themselves, without harassment,
violence, or bullying — have better mental health, life satisfaction, and even job
satisfaction.
That shouldn’t be surprising: It’s
true of all people. Why would the government want to do the exact opposite?
OtherWords columnist Jill
Richardson is pursuing a PhD in sociology at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison. She lives in San Diego. Distributed by OtherWords.org.