Usually, when a child is born, the first question people ask is: is it a boy or a girl? Doctors and parents alike tend to identify infants based on what is between their legs: either male or female. This describes the sex of the child, but what about gender?

 

People assume that Sex and Gender are the same things, but in fact, these are completely different. The differences between sex and gender are anatomical and physiological. "Sex" tends to relate to biological differences, often established at birth. A person's gender, however, refers to either social roles or personal identification of one's own gender based on an internal awareness (one’s gender identity).

Read more about gender roles here

 

 In Japan, there are several problems with the differentiation of sex and gender, that’s why the rights of people with different gender identities or sexual orientations are sometimes violated or not even recognized. This is one of the issues that project KOE has aims to work on.

 

Gender identity

 

“Gender identity” is how a person sees themselves – their own internal sense and personal experience of gender. Only the individual can determine their own gender identity. It is much more complex than being “man” or “woman”. Especially today, there is a lot more awareness of and support for the different ways that people express gender.

 

Gender stereotypes

 

A gender stereotype is a widely accepted judgment or bias about a person or group — even though it’s overly simplified and not always accurate. Stereotypes about gender can cause unequal and unfair treatment because of a person’s gender. This is also called sexism.

 

What is gender expression?

 

Gender expression is a bit different than gender identity. If gender identity is how we think of ourselves internally, gender expression is how we display this to the world. Gender expression refers to things like dress, attitudes, and behaviors that we choose to display.