Gender Identity: Meaning, Gender, Expression, and Sexuality

For example, a person may know themselves as:

• a woman;
• a man;
• nonbinary;
• genderfluid;
• agender;
• both a woman and a man;
• partly connected to one or more genders; or
• another gender understood within their culture or personal experience.

Some people have a clear and stable gender identity from an early age. Others understand it gradually or experience it as changing over time. A person may use a familiar label, a culturally specific term, several labels, or no label at all.

Gender identity is personal and internal. It cannot always be determined from someone’s body, name, clothing, voice, behavior, or appearance.

Internal Sense of Gender

Gender identity concerns how a person experiences and understands their own gender internally.

A person may feel strongly connected to a particular gender, connected to several genders, or not connected to gender at all.

Relationship to Assigned Sex

At birth, people are usually assigned a sex category based primarily on visible anatomy.

A person whose gender identity corresponds with their assigned sex may describe themselves as cisgender. A person whose gender identity differs from their assigned sex may describe themselves as transgender, although not everyone uses that label.

Personal and Social Identity

Gender identity is internal, but it can also influence how someone wishes to be known socially. This may include their name, pronouns, clothing, hairstyle, title, or the way they describe themselves.

Not every person expresses their gender identity in the same way.

Gender Identity vs. Gender

Gender is a broad concept involving identity, social roles, cultural expectations, behavior, and expression.

Gender identity is the personal, internal sense of one’s own gender.

Gender is the wider category; gender identity is one part of it.

Gender Identity vs. Biological Sex

Biological sex refers to characteristics such as chromosomes, hormones, reproductive anatomy, gonads, and secondary sex characteristics.

Gender identity refers to a person’s internal understanding of their gender.

The two may correspond, but they are not the same concept.

Gender Identity vs. Sex Assigned at Birth

Sex assigned at birth is the category recorded when a person is born, usually based mainly on visible anatomy.

Gender identity is how the person understands themselves. It may align with or differ from the category assigned at birth.

Gender Identity vs. Gender Expression

Gender expression is how a person communicates or presents gender through clothing, hairstyle, voice, behavior, name, or appearance.

Gender identity is internal. A person may have a masculine, feminine, androgynous, or variable expression without that expression revealing their identity accurately.

Gender Identity vs. Sexual Orientation

Gender identity concerns who a person is.

Sexual orientation concerns patterns of romantic or sexual attraction.

A transgender or nonbinary person may be heterosexual, gay, lesbian, bisexual, asexual, pansexual, or use another orientation label.

Gender Identity vs. Gender Role

A gender role is a set of social expectations about how people of a particular gender are supposed to behave.

Gender identity is a person’s internal sense of self. Someone may reject traditional gender roles without having a different gender identity.

Gender Identity vs. Pronouns

Pronouns are words such as she, he, or they used to refer to someone.

Pronouns may express or affirm gender, but they are not identical to gender identity. People with the same identity may use different pronouns, and pronouns alone do not always reveal someone’s gender.

Gender Identity vs. Gender Dysphoria

Gender dysphoria refers to clinically significant distress that may arise from a mismatch between a person’s gender identity, body, assigned sex, or social treatment.

Gender identity itself is not a disorder. Not every transgender or nonbinary person experiences gender dysphoria.

Gender Identity vs. Gender Nonconformity

Gender nonconformity means that someone’s appearance, behavior, or expression differs from social expectations associated with their assigned gender.

A gender-nonconforming person may be cisgender, transgender, nonbinary, or use another identity.

Woman

A person who understands herself as a woman may be cisgender or transgender.

Man

A person who understands himself as a man may be cisgender or transgender.

Nonbinary

Nonbinary is an umbrella term for gender identities that are not exclusively woman or man.

Genderfluid

A genderfluid person experiences their gender as changing over time or in different circumstances.

Agender

An agender person may experience little or no internal sense of gender.

Bigender

A bigender person may identify with two genders, either simultaneously or at different times.

Culturally Specific Identities

Some societies recognize gender identities connected to particular cultural, historical, spiritual, or community traditions. These identities should be understood within their own cultural contexts rather than treated as exact equivalents of Western terminology.

In respectful use, it describes a fundamental aspect of how people understand themselves. In healthcare, education, research, and public policy, it helps distinguish internal identity from anatomy, social roles, and sexual orientation.

The term is sometimes misunderstood as referring only to transgender people. In reality, everyone has a relationship to gender identity, including cisgender people.

Gender identity should not be inferred solely from appearance. Asking respectfully, using the name and pronouns a person provides, and avoiding unnecessary assumptions can support clear and considerate communication.

• identify as a woman, man, or nonbinary person
• feel connected to a particular gender
• differ from the sex assigned at birth
• express gender through clothing or language
• speak about gender identity
• respect someone for who they are
• refer to a person by their chosen name
• discriminate against someone because of gender identity

• A person identifies as a woman and uses she/her pronouns.
• Someone assigned female at birth identifies as a man.
• A nonbinary person uses they/them pronouns.
• A genderfluid person experiences their gender differently over time.
• A cisgender man does not conform to traditional expectations of masculinity.
• A student asks teachers to use a different name.
• Someone changes their clothing style without changing their gender identity.
• A healthcare provider asks respectful questions rather than making assumptions.
• A person chooses not to disclose their gender identity in a particular setting.
• Friends correct themselves after accidentally using the wrong pronoun.

• Gender identity
• gender-identity development
• gender-identity exploration
• gender-identity label
• affirmed gender identity
• diverse gender identities
• gender-identity discrimination
• gender-identity expression

The phrase “explore one’s gender identity” means reflecting on or learning more about one’s experience of gender.

The young adult took time to explore their gender identity privately.

The expression “affirm someone’s gender identity” means recognizing and respecting the gender the person identifies with.

Using the student’s correct name helped affirm their gender identity.

The phrase “questioning one’s gender identity” means being uncertain about or actively considering one’s gender.

Questioning gender identity does not require adopting a permanent label.

• Gender identity is a person’s internal understanding of their gender.
• A person’s appearance does not necessarily reveal their gender identity.
• Gender identity and sexual orientation are different concepts.
• Some people identify as nonbinary rather than exclusively male or female.
• A person’s gender identity may differ from the sex assigned at birth.
• Pronouns can be one way of expressing or affirming gender.
• Not every transgender person experiences gender dysphoria.
• Respectful language allows people to describe themselves in their own terms.
• Gender identity may remain stable or develop over time.
• No one’s identity should be treated as consent to sexual attention or activity.

For example, a transgender woman may be lesbian, heterosexual, bisexual, asexual, pansexual, or use another orientation label. A nonbinary person may describe their orientation in a way that reflects both their own gender and the genders to which they are attracted.

Respecting gender identity is also important in intimate relationships. Partners should use the names, pronouns, and body-related language each person prefers. They should not assume that someone’s gender identity reveals their anatomy, sexual interests, relationship role, or boundaries.

Gender identity never implies sexual availability or consent. Attraction, identity, body characteristics, behavior, and consent must always be understood separately.