“How many genders do you believe there are?” 

“Six: straight, gay, lesbian, transgender, bisexual and pansexual.” (student)  

After conducting interviews with the student body about their thoughts on gender, I found that the responses clearly prove the lack of knowledge we hold, which makes us unequipped to answer this question, let alone prove a point. 

At the beginning of the semester, Realistic Resolutions held a session with Grades 6-8 where we created mood boards or goal boards, envisioning how we want the upcoming semester to look like for us. While most worked with drafting out their goals, a group of students made a poster solely with images of different individuals. They went around asking people, “How many of these characters do you see as male or female?”

By doing this they were trying to prove that there are only two genders that exist – male and female. Firstly, this proves that the topic of ‘gender’ holds such an important part in minds of young individuals, to the extent that proving that there are only two genders takes over the importance of setting goals for their own lives. Across the world, individuals debate topics relating to gender, not just at Woodstock. However, before claiming whether there are only or more than two genders, we must understand the difference between, ‘sex’, ‘gender’ and ‘sexuality’, according to gender identity theory. 

“Sex” is the physical difference between people, described by three categories of intersex, male or female. This is what we have assigned to us at birth based on our physical characteristics and our chromosomes. On the other hand, “gender” is how an individual identifies themselves. It  is what influences one’s behavior, act and self expression. Gender is not confined to a binary (girl/woman, boy/man) and it is not static, with the potential to change over time. “Sexuality” is who a person is attracted to. So, when we say someones straight, bi or even asexual this is different from their sex or gender – it is their sexuality.

Understanding the difference between one’s ones sex, gender and sexuality allows us take on the responsibility of respecting all the infinite variety of ways of self expression out there. While, respecting the ways others identify themselves might be challenging and go against some of our own world views, it is crucial for us to take on this step to ensure that we learn to respect the endless differences present in our community and the world outside. 

Priyanshi is a staff reporter.

Edited by Aryaman.