Synthesis Essay On Gender Identity

As a society, we often see gender identity as a black or white concept, it is either ‘this’ or ‘that’ with no room for fluidity. However, contrary to the social norms, gender is not just male or female, but a whole array of identities and shades of grey. These border identities often fall between the binaries and are frowned upon because they don’t adhere to society’s strict gender norms. Oftentimes, border identities such as genderqueer, multiracial, and intersex experience a negation of the existence of their identity because society doesn’t expose the public to any of the different genders that aren’t strictly male or female. These people have a hard time figuring out who they are and where they belong because they are unaware of the non-binary

Lang states, “when I answered that I hadn't really begun questioning my gender until I was 20 years old, my doctor seemed shocked” (Lang 4). In society, if someone isn’t 100% male or 100% female, they are questioned every step of the way to discovery. Not all transgender people experience an overwhelming certainty that they are truly male/female since a young age; in fact, that is simply a socially constructed norm we place on transgender people in order to make it easier for cis-people to understand and allow. In cases like Lang’s, people frequently say that his feelings about questioning his identity are simply part of a phase and that he is just confused. This is societies way of forcing non-binary people into a box in which they do not fit. When non-binary genders are told that their gender is ‘just a phase’ it further erases their identities not only on a micro level, but also on a macro level. In society, “non-binary trans people are often outright ignored by mainstream media” (Dennison 1). This is because the media only expresses interest in trans people who have always been trans rather than the people who don’t fit into any specific