Gender identity

These items are from “100 Questions and Answers About Gender Identity.” You can get all 100 answers in print or digital format.

What is gender identity?
What is the difference between gender and sex?
What is the gender spectrum?
At what age do people start understanding their gender identity?
What is transitioning?
Do all transgender people have gender-confirming surgery?
Is it OK to ask a person if they have had surgery or hormone therapy?
What is conversion therapy?
Are most transgender people gay?
What is “deadnaming?”
How does one respectfully refer to a transgender person?
Why do many transgender people prefer not to be called “transgendered?”
Are transgender identities a new thing?
How can parents support children who transition?
What is gender dysphoria?
Does being transgender constitute having a mental illness?
Are people getting killed over their gender identity?
What is U.S. military policy about transgender people?
How accepting is U.S. society overall of transgender rights?
What is the restroom debate?


What is gender identity?
Gender identity is an individual’s knowledge of who they are and how they identify themselves. It is deeply engrained in their sense of self. A person can identify as a woman, a man, nonbinary, gender-fluid as having no gender. Gender is not based on physical characteristics, chromosomes, hormones or sexuality.
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What is the difference between gender and sex?
Sex is assigned at birth, primarily on the basis of external anatomy. Possible labels are male, female or intersex. Gender is one’s internal knowledge of who they are, whether that be man, woman, transgender, genderfluid, nonbinary or another term.
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What is the gender spectrum?
The Trevor Project states that gender is fluid and can change depending on how people perceive themselves. The gender identity spectrum illustrates that gender has many dimensions. The gender spectrum is someone’s knowledge of their gender. The expression spectrum shows how people present their gender. The presentation spectrum shows how the world perceives them. Transgender, nonbinary and cisgender identities can be anywhere along the spectrum or even beyond it.
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At what age do people start understanding their gender identity?
The U.S. Transgender Survey reported that 32 percent of respondents said they began by age 5 to feel that their assigned sex did not match their gender identity. An additional 28 percent, for a total of 60 percent, began to feel that way by age 10. Acting outside of typical gender roles is called gender-nonconforming behavior. Children who exhibit this may not be transgender, but it can be a sign. A better guideline is if the child is consistent, insistent and persistent about their identity. Then they might be transgender.
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What is transitioning?
This is the process of moving from the sex assigned at birth with all that it implies to a gender consistent with someone’s identity. The elements of transitioning vary. Some people begin transitioning with a new name or pronouns. Others might change their hairstyle, change the way they dress, or start or stop wearing makeup. Some arrange for hormone therapy or surgery.
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Do all transgender people have gender-confirming surgery?
Most do not. According to the U.S. Transgender Survey, only 25 percent of respondents said they had some type of gender-confirming surgery. Transgender men were more likely than transgender women to have had surgery, 42 percent to 28 percent. Nine percent of nonbinary people have had surgery. Fourteen percent of transgender women and 21 percent of transgender men said they never wanted surgery. Surgery is expensive and insurance doesn’t always cover it. Even if a transgender person does not have or want surgery, their identity is still valid.
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Is it OK to ask a person if they have had surgery or hormone therapy?
No. It is an invasion of privacy to ask anyone medical questions. This is especially true with gender changes, which are varied and intimate. For transgender people, questions like this can be triggers to identity struggles and cause long periods of distress. Many transgender people, most of whom have never had surgery, feel that the question challenges their identity or authenticity.
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What is conversion therapy?
Conversion therapy is a discredited and unethical treatment purported to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. It has been scientifically disproven. It can cause psychological distress and increase suicide attempts, running away and homelessness. According to the Movement Advancement Project, 45 states allow conversion therapy for minors. In the U.S. Transgender Survey, 14 percent said their immediate family had sent them to a therapist, counselor, or religious/spiritual adviser to try to prevent them from transitioning.
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Are most transgender people gay?
This question is about the intersection of gender identity and sexual attraction. First, changing gender does not change other characteristics about a person. That includes whom they are attracted to. Also, not all people experience sexual attraction and not all are attracted to just one sex.
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What is “deadnaming?”
This refers to a transgender person by their birth name instead of their new name. It can be out of habit or by accident or it can signal rejection of the person’s identity. Even asking a person about their “birth name” or “old name” can hurt. Questioning identity in such a personal way can resurface gender dysphoria, or negative experiences associated with their transition. It is respectful to address all people by the name they prefer.
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How does one respectfully refer to a transgender person?
The most respectful way is by their name and pronouns. If you accidentally use the wrong pronoun, apologize and keep talking. “Transsexual” is considered to be dated and inaccurate. Use transgender as an adjective, but not as a noun, even if you hear some transgender people do that. Referring to someone as “a transgender” reduces a person’s whole identity to one quality.
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Why do many transgender people prefer not to be called “transgendered?”
Using -ed after the word transgender turns it into a passive verb. It implies that something occurred that caused the person’s gender to change. More likely, it was miscategorized at birth. Individuals are in charge of their transitions. Being transgender is not something that happens to someone; it is who they are. It is better to say someone has transitioned.
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Are these identities a new thing?
No. There are centuries-old descriptions of transgender or nonbinary people and identities in Africa, Asia, Europe and North and South America. Some people were accorded sacred significance. Others were shunned or persecuted and their stories suppressed. Although the transgender identity is not new, visibility and acceptance in the United States are new.
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How can parents support children who transition?
There is no short answer for this, and every family is different. PFLAG and the Family Acceptance Project at San Francisco State University are starting points. The resource section in this guide has more. It points to material for people of different ages, races, languages and religions.
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What is gender dysphoria?
According to the American Psychiatric Association, this “involves a conflict between a person’s physical gender and the gender with which he or she identifies.” A similar diagnostic change was made for sexual orientation in 1973. Gender dysphoria can mean stress, anxiety and depression related to gender identity. Dysphoria does not mean gender nonconformity. It refers to thoughts, feelings and behaviors that do not match stereotypes of the sex assigned at birth. Not all transgender people have gender dysphoria.
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Does being transgender constitute having a mental illness?
In 2012, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders that is widely used in the United State changed this. Having a transgender identity went from being diagnosed with “Gender identity disorder” to “Gender dysphoria.” This allowed people to get a diagnosis, treatment and care without the stigma of having a disorder.
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Are people getting killed over their gender identity?
The number of documented transgender killings are at a record high in the United States. The Human Rights Campaign said advocates documented 21 homicides of transgender people in 2015. The Advocate publication reported 27 homicides in 2016. Homicides in 2017 were on pace to exceed those numbers. Nearly all the victims were Black or Hispanic women. Several studies have shown that hate crimes are higher for transgender women of color than for any other group.
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What is U.S. military policy about transgender people?
On Aug. 25, 2017, President Donald Trump directed the Pentagon to ban transgender individuals from openly serving in the U.S. armed forces. The order stopped the hiring of transgender military personnel. It also gave the Department of Defense latitude in deciding whether those already in the military could continue to serve. This reversed a 2016 Obama administration decision that would have allowed them to serve and have medical care, surgery and name and gender changes in the Pentagon’s personnel system. Trump had tweeted in July 2017, “Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail.” At the time, an estimated 6,000 transgender people were already in the military.
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How accepting is U.S. society overall of transgender rights?
This varies by issue and age, among other things. Major issues include employment and health care. The 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey found that 68 percent of respondents said co-workers accepted them. That was greater acceptance than they reported among family members or at school. A 2016 Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll on public restrooms found greater acceptance among younger people. The poll found that Americans aged 18-29 were twice as likely to support letting people use restrooms that corresponded with their identity. People 60 and older were twice as likely to want people to follow the sex on their birth certificate.
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What is the restroom debate?
At its root, this is not about restrooms, but civil rights and safety. The major argument against transgender people using public restrooms has been the myth that men dressing as women are a threat to women and children. There is no evidence that transgender people harass others in restrooms. In fact, public restrooms are where most sexual assaults against transgender people take place, according to the U.S. Transgender Survey. Early in 2017, eight states were considering restricted access to restrooms, locker rooms, and other sex-segregated facilities, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. In July 2017, New Jersey adopted laws protecting people’s right to choose restrooms or locker rooms that match their gender identity and preventing discrimination by health insurers.
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