Gender fluid means that a person is flexible in regard to the gender with which they identify. Their gender identity or expression is not fixed and may encompass one gender, multiple genders, or no gender. Their gender identity and expression may also change over time. A person's gender identity refers to an individual's felt gender identification, while gender expression refers to how a person presents themselves. Gender expression refers to the ways that people present their gender identity. People may express their gender in masculine or feminine ways, but they may also present in ways that are both or neither. Gender is different from sex, which refers to the genitalia with which you are born.
"Being gender fluid means that you don’t have a set gender or set place on the gender spectrum," says Margaret Seide, MD, a Board-certified psychiatrist.
Gender fluidity is a fairly new term and, to that extent, concept. That doesn’t mean that gender fluid people didn’t exist until recently; in fact, there are many examples of people throughout history who fell outside of binary sexual identification. The difference is that the topic simply was not widely discussed. Even today, the term gender fluid is fairly uncommon in certain communities.
“There are socio-cultural norms, some of which have their basis in religion. Also, almost every society we know of has some sort of societally imposed gender-normative expectations, whether that is dress, relationship roles, or general behavior,” says Dr. Seide.
“As you experience the world, you are exposed to these social constructs that define masculinity and femininity and that shapes our expectations of our own behavior.” Continue reading from Very Well Mind
