Gender Fluidity: New Freedoms or New Pressures?

Abstract

Despite some significant changes over the past decades, society continues to assert its power on gender identity and expression in both subtle and not so subtle ways. From the way a parent decorates their expected baby’s nursery, to the gender of astronauts and nurses in book and television characters, to the type of toy one receives when ordering a McDonald’s happy meal, signals continue to be sent regarding what it means in this world to be a boy or a girl. The impact of these various influences is undeniable but, as we also know, far from omnipotent. We learn this from many of our transgender patients, friends, and colleagues, many of whom describe an inner sense of certainty that, despite all the cultural pressure, their assigned gender at birth just never fit an inner sense of who they are. We also know this from many cisgender children whose progressively-minded parents, for example, build beautiful dollhouses for their young boys only to have them used as car jumping ramps and destinations for dinosaur monster invasions. Yet for many transgender individuals, a lot of pain can develop when the world of external expectations and the world of authentic expression of one’s affirmed gender collide. And sadly, this inner distress too often is accompanied by emotional and physical pain in the form outright abuse and bullying.