Title: Seven Facts About Gender You Should Know | HuffPost
Headings: Seven Facts About Gender You Should Know
Seven Facts About Gender You Should Know
1. Just because you don’t understand something doesn’t invalidate it
2. It is not a fad: Gender non-conforming people have been around for millennia
3. Gender fluid expression is something a lot of straight cisgender people do (to a degree) already
4. Gender has components of both nature and nurture
5. Cultural gender norms change over time naturally
6. How you were raised does not determine the reality of your gender identity
7. Transgender people do not intrinsically reinforce gender stereotypes
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Content: Other cultures have long traditions of gender non-conforming individuals, such as the hijra of Hinduism and India, the fa’a’fa’fine of the Pacific Islands, and two-spirits in Native American culture. The reason we see more of it now is a combination of greater cultural awareness of such people, and because of changing cultural norms which allow transgender people to be more visible. For a reducto ad absurdum example, there are a lot more out gay people in California than there are in Iran or Saudi Arabia, because the difference in how they are treated. Similarly, people are much more likely to identify as LGBT in socially tolerant US states than in conservative ones. The most cutting edge of cultural change right now is coming in the form of gender fluid and non-binary people. This is the part that conservatives have the hardest time with, but is actually just an extension of something a lot of people already do subconsciously already. Download
3. Gender fluid expression is something a lot of straight cisgender people do (to a degree) already
Women in American society can (and do) express their gender in ways that that can change from day to day, if not hour to hour. They can put on a business suit to feel commanding and strong at work or an interview, both of which are stereotyped as masculine traits. Or mix a jacket with a dress to keep it at a business level, but more feminine.