What is Gender Identity?
A person’s internal and deeply felt sense and experience of their gender.
An Introduction to Gender Identities
Gender Identities to Know
Here are some of the most common gender identities reported by gender diverse people in the United States
Trans Woman / Transgender Woman / Trans Feminine
A person who identifies as a woman and was assigned male at birth.
“I walk in the world as a woman because I am a woman, and people should take me as that. I’m just being myself.”
~Janet Mock (she/her), writer and activist
Trans Man / Transgender Man / Trans Masculine
A person who identifies as a man and was assigned female at birth.
“I knew I was a boy when I was a toddler. Every little aspect of my life, that is who I was, who I am, and who I knew myself to be.”
~Elliot Page (he/him), actor
Nonbinary / Genderqueer / Gender Expansive
A person who does not identify exclusively as a man or a woman, but as both, neither, or somewhere in between.
“I’m not male or female, I flow somewhere in between. It’s all on the spectrum.”
~Sam Smith (they/them), musician
Bigender
A person who identifies as having two or more genders.
“Growing up, I knew already that I was both a boy and a girl.”
~CK Malone (they/them), author
Genderfluid
A person who identifies as having two or more genders, and who experiences their gender as varying or shifting over time.
“I am a ‘she’ right now. But I also like dressing up as a man and being a ‘he’. Whether it’s masculine and feminine, it’s just who I am.”
~Cara Delevingne (she/her), model and actor
Agender / Genderless / Gender-Free / Neutrois
A person who does not identify as having a gender identity or who experiences their gender as neutral.
“To me, being agender means not being confined by expectations or by labels.”
~Tylor Ford (they/hir), writer and activist
Two Spirit
A person who fulfils one of many mixed or crossed gender roles found in many Native Americans and Canadian First Nations groups.
“I see myself between this terrible binary that’s been created — the Western world imposed this male/female binary, ‘this way or that way’ kind of mentality.”
~Blake Desjarlais (he/him), Cree and Métis member of the Canadian parliament
Many more gender identities exist, such as:
Omnigender
Demigirl / demiboy
Androgyne
Hijra
Pangender
and many more!