Sex-gender diversity: what is it and how is it expressed?

Let's see what sex-gender diversity is and how it is expressed in society.

In recent years we have heard of the term "sex-gender diversity", which is used to refer to different forms of being and gender.which is used with the purpose of naming different ways of being and being in front of the world. For some people it can be uncomfortable and unpleasant, but for others it is urgent to go deeper, living in a state of confusion, sadness and fear. This is because gender crosses us in different ways.

To begin to understand this new portrait of the current gender can be complicated if we do not have a minimum panorama; for this reason, it is important to know several basic concepts that explain what it is about and why it is necessary for all of us to have an approach towards it, and above all to know why it is important in psychotherapy. So... Let's start!

The keys to sex-gender diversity.

All our lives we have been required to relate congruently to our sex.There are no other ways of manifesting oneself in life than an "ideal" and "correct" model that corresponds to the behavioral expressions that a "man" should have in relation to the masculine and a "woman" to the feminine. Any human being who manifests the opposite, runs the risk of living discriminated in their social and most intimate spaces.

Lately we have been hearing a lot about the concept of gender, a useful category to understand the cultural constructions of what it means to be a "man" and a "woman" in society.. Now that there is this whole gender revolution, there is a need to talk more about the subject, especially because there is a demand to listen and it is important that both therapists and consultants are informed.

Let's start by saying that there are diverse people. To say that there are only "men" and "women" is to exclude many people who do not identify with the roles and stereotypes that society has typified and judged. To begin with, the category gender arises thanks to an iconic phrase: "You are not born a woman, you become one..." by the existential philosopher Simone De Beauvoir, in opposition to many social mandates that to date continue to be practiced from biologicist and normative ideas that discriminate against women and exclude a large part of the LGBT+ Community in the world.

From traditional gender to other identities

Thanks to various gender studies, we know that the feminine and masculine essence is a cultural creation. There are generic identities that do not correspond only to the conventional Biological binarism (male-female). (male-female). Therefore, there are many alternatives to relate to each other as human beings and to enjoy our permanence in society.

So, when we talk about gender identity, we refer to the assimilation and acceptance that a person may have regarding what he or she considers to be psychically. Here we will see a small glossary; it should be noted that there are many other identities and the best option will always be to refer to the person as he/she prefers.

1. Male or female

They are the traditional gender binarism we grow up with and internalize in our lives.

2. Male or female transgender

People whose identity does not coincide with the gender and sex of their birth, opting to change their appearance, and in some cases even change their body surgically and/or with hormonal treatments.In some cases they even change their body surgically and/or with hormonal treatments, but this is not always the case.

3. Transgender

It can be abbreviated as trans. Some people prefer this concept, and it refers to all those whose gender identity does not correspond to their gender identity. whose gender identity does not correspond to their biological sex.. It encompasses a range of identities that includes both children and adults. An example is children or adults who identify as male but were assigned female at birth.

4. Cisgender

These are people whose gender identity matches their biological sexuality assigned at birth. Most of these people have this traditional gender conformity.

5. Queer

Or "cuir" in its Spanish translation. Refers to all these identifications and expressions of gender that reject the binary notion of male-female sexes by perceiving it from a strict and normative notion in societies. by perceiving it from a strict and normative notion in societies. Long ago it was used as an insult; however, some people claim it as something positive and use it to not define themselves within the frameworks of sex-gender.

Gender does not determine sexual orientation

Gender identity, on the other hand, does not determine sexual orientation, which is the physical, erotic, emotional, and sexual attraction to one's gender. the physical, erotic, emotional and/or intellectual attraction that a person may feel towards another person.. The following classifications fall into this category:

• Lesbians: women who feel sexual, erotic and affective attraction to other women.
• Gays: men who feel sexual, erotic and affective attraction for other men.
• Heterosexuals: people who are attracted to the opposite sex and gender.
• Bisexual: refers to the ability of a person to feel physical, sexual, erotic and affective attraction to both men and women.
• Pansexuals: are people who feel some physical, romantic, intellectual, erotic and/or affective attraction regardless of their gender and sex of the other person.
• Asexuals: people who report having no sexual attraction to another person.

With this wide range of identities and orientations a range of possibilities are created to manifest themselves in the world, what we nowadays callWhat we refer to today as gender diversity.

Discrimination dynamics

Sadly, there is a social rejection due to the exclusion experienced by people who do not relate to each other on the basis of cisheterosexuality. With this concept we refer to people who, since birth, identify with the assigned gender and their sexual orientation corresponds to the opposite sex.

For a long time we grew up with these fixed ideas about what it is to be a "man" and what it is to be a "woman," relating to each other from traditional masculinity and femininity. relating to each other from traditional masculinity and femininity. It is important that we start from the idea that there are many ways of being and that gender should not be a limiting aspect to be able to express ourselves and relate to others, so no one has to live tormented by their identity or sexual preferences.

It is an issue that is on the table today, and we still have a lot of work to do; however, it is important for therapists to be sensitive to this issue, it is important that therapists are sensitized on the subject because outside the clinics there is discrimination that has affected the lives of many people for reasons of gender. for reasons of gender.

Finally, it is important that professionals in any psychological care center not only have a gender perspective, which is this contemplation and awareness of the situation of inequality experienced by women compared to men, but also that they are sensitized to gender diversity, recognizing its richness as that of any person, and that they can provide ethical and committed accompaniment.

Author: Daniel De Gyves, psychologist, writer and social activist. Collaborator in Astronauta Emocional.