Transgender 101 for Dummies

Greetings, oh ignorant gender enthusiasts. Take heart, buckle down, and study FM’s fifteen second guide to decoding gender.

Sex and gender can be delineated into four discrete categories: biological sex, gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation.

First comes the “full monty,” so to speak— physical genitalia. One’s “biological sex” is determined by the existance of male, female, or ambiguous (in the case of intersex individuals) genitalia.

But the equipment granted at birth does not determine one’s personality. “Transgender” is a term reserved for those who identify strongly with the lives, feelings, and (socially perceived) behaviors typical of an individual with a different biological sex. This falls under the second spectrum: gender identity.

Closely linked to gender identity is gender expression. Social factors such as clothing, haircuts, and other social behaviors like spitting or curtsying, are relevant in discussions of gender expression.

Gender identity and gender expression often coincide, and may be responsible for the “invisibility” of a transgender community on campus. Many transmen or transwomen express the gender that they identify with so well that others never suspect that their biological sex may not “match.”

At the end of the rainbow comes sexual orientation, which should be fairly familiar to most people at Harvard—simply whether one is attracted to females or males. Note that this concept of “female and male” has two parts: gender and genitalia.

Some people are attracted to others because of their particular expression of “maleness” or “femaleness” and do not give a quid about what’s down below; others are attracted to specific organs. Both of these combined equals one’s sexual preference. It’s for this reason that a transman who likes women is not a lesbian, and a transwoman who likes men is not gay. People can be attracted to all sorts of individuals with varying gender identities, expressions and sexual organs; the terminology might be complex, but the feelings are not.