Gender

Gender is a socially produced category that derives from the essentialization of bodily difference located in chromosomes, hormones, and genitals. These “sex differences,” while not completely dimorphic, are often treated as such—in science, law, and public realms. Gender binaries function within many communities, nations, and cultures to govern individual expression and comportment, roles, and life trajectory. An individual assigned the sex “male” at birth is presumed not only to claim the gender identity of “man” but to also be masculine in expression and presentation; the same is true of “female,” “woman,” and femininity.