Many generations before us have been raised with the supposed fact that a human is either a female or a male. We, as teens in 2021, may also be conditioned to not look beyond the physical characteristics of an individual and automatically assign a gender to a person during an interaction internally. We are conditioned unknowingly, but it is our choice to gain information and knowledge about identities. Let’s not choose ignorance.
Someone could identify as:
Cis-the gender that one is assigned at birth that they still identify with.
Trans- the gender one identifies with, other than the one assigned at birth.
Gender fluid- fluctuating gender identity.
Demi- partially identifying with a gender.
Agender- being without gender.
Non-binary/ genderqueer- umbrella term for not identifying with any gender.
Strength lies in unity and inclusivity. Despite what someone identifies as, we are all living beings that live in the same big, often daunting world and deserve to be treated with kindness.
-Vani Malhotra
