Gender is not about who someone is attracted to, we refer to that as sexuality.  Sex and Gender are often used as interchangeable terms, however there is a difference.

Our sex is what we are assigned at birth, in the UK everyone is assigned as either male or female at birth.

Gender is a wider term and includes how we wish to seen by society and how we describe ourselves. Gender is not dependant upon body shape, our biology or our genitalia.

Gender defines a person’s internal sense of their identity. For example, someone might identify as a woman or girl, non-binary, transgender, a man or boy, gender fluid or something different. 

Our sense of our gender and how we see ourselves is our ‘Gender Identity’.

For most people their gender identity matches their assigned sex from birth, they may have never even had to consider their gender identity.

People whose gender identity does not match their assigned sex at birth are described as ‘transgender’ or ‘trans’ for short.

There are some people who begin to question their gender identity. This can happen at almost any age and is not uncommon for this to happen at school age. When someone comes to understand that their gender does not match their sex from birth, we refer to this as being ‘transgender’

It is important to note that gender identity is not necessarily just about how we dress and appear, we all have freedom about how we present ourselves to the world.

It is important to understand that when a young person is experimenting with presenting differently, than would be usual, this does not mean that they are necessarily trans. However for most trans people how they dress and appear is a key part of their identity.

Gender Identity is about who we truly are, our gender inside and out and how we relate to society and community. It is crucial to understand that no one is trans because of the influence of others or because of a trend. People who are trans know who they are because that is who they are. 

When your innate sense of gender (your gender identity) does not match your assigned sex we refer to that under the umbrella term ‘trans’. Trans includes those people who have a gender identity of male or female—a girl who identifies as a boy, or a boy who identifies as a girl – and also those who do not identify as either male or female, which we term as ‘non-binary’.

Gender defines a person’s internal sense of their identity. For example, someone might identify as a woman or girl, non-binary, transgender, a man or boy, gender fluid or something different. 

• Cisgender – This refers to someone who identifies as the same gender they were assigned at birth. This applies to most people.
• Transgender – This is someone whose gender is different from their sex at birth.
• Non-binary – Someone who does not identify as either male or female.
• Genderqueer/ Gender fluid – Similar to non-binary, these are gender identities that sit within, outside of, across or between ‘male’ and ‘female’
• Intersex – This refers to a person who is born with biology that is not solely male or female. For example chromosomes, hormone levels or reproductive organs that have female and male characteristics. These variations may not always be seen on the outside and so sometimes they are not diagnosed.
• Transition – The process where someone begins to live their life in their known gender identity. This includes social transition at school and potentially medical transition later in life.