Overview of gender identity
Ira tangata tuakiri
Gender identity is someone's personal sense of their own gender. Everyone has a gender identity.
A person’s concept of themselves may be as a woman, a man, both, neither or another gender identity. Their gender identity can be the same as or different to the sex they're assigned at birth.
People use different terms to describe their gender identity. Terms can change their meaning over time or fall out of use.
Gender expression is how people present their gender identity through their appearance, clothing, style, actions and interactions. It's often influenced by culture and society. Each person’s gender expression is unique.
Sex or sex assigned at birth refers to people's sex characteristics. This includes chromosomes, reproductive organs and secondary sex characteristics (such as wide hips or an Adam's apple). We used to think of sex as a binary, but we now know it's more of a spectrum.
Intersex refers to the people who are born along this spectrum between male and female. Someone can be intersex due to chromosomes, hormones or reproductive organs. There are many different types of intersex variations, and they are more common than many people realise.
Sexuality or sexual orientation is the sexual and physical attraction we may feel for others. Your gender identity doesn't determine who you’ll be attracted to.
Sometimes, people can confuse gender identity with sex or sexuality. It can be helpful to think about gender identity, gender expression, sex assigned at birth and sexuality as aspects of our identity that are connected. But they're independent of each other and may occur across a spectrum.
For definitions of more terms, see Gender identity terminology.
HealthInfo recommends the following pages
Written by Ko Awatea gender-affirming care co-design group. Adapted by HealthInfo clinical advisers. Last reviewed March 2023.
Sources
The information in this section comes from the following sources, some of which may be clinically complex or not available to the general public
Center for Primary Care Harvard Medical – School terminology related to sexual orientation, gender identity, and more, retrieved February 2019.
Clark TC, Lucassen MF, Bullen P, et al. The health and well-being of transgender high school students: results from the New Zealand adolescent health survey (Youth'12) (https://www.jahonline.org/article/S1054-139X(13)00753-2/fulltext). Journal of Adolescent Health, Volume 55, Issue 1, 93 - 99. July 2014.
Human Rights Commission NZ – Transgender enquiry report: To be who I am. 2007.
Intersex Awareness New Zealand – What is intersex? (http://www.ianz.org.nz/what-is-intersex/), retrieved February 2019.
Ministry of Health – Transgender New Zealanders (https://www.health.govt.nz/your-health/healthy-living/transgender-new-zealanders/health-care-transgender-new-zealanders), retrieved February 2019.
Oliphant J, Veale J, Macdonald J, Carroll R, Johnson R, Harte M, Stephenson C, Bullock J. Guidelines for gender affirming healthcare for gender diverse and transgender children, young people and adults in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Transgender Health Research Lab, University of Waikato, 2018.
Olson KR, Durwood L, DeMeules M, et al. Mental Health of Transgender Children Who Are Supported in Their Identities. Pediatrics. 2016;137(3):e20153223. March 2015.
Rainbow Youth – Useful Words (https://ry.org.nz/friends-whanau/useful-words/), retrieved February 2019.
Yogyakarta principles, retrieved February 2019.
Image and embedded video sources
Image of parent holding child by Joseph Gonzalez on Unsplash. April 2019.
Image of person having counselling from The Gender Spectrum Collection. April 2019.
Image of person writing on clipboard from The Gender Spectrum Collection. April 2019.
Image of medical person from The Gender Spectrum Collection. April 2019.
Image of two people hugging in front of a wall by Eye for Ebony on Unsplash. April 2019.
Image of two people in an office from The Gender Spectrum Collection. April 2019.
Image of two people reading from The Gender Spectrum Collection. April 2019.
Image of two young people having fun in outdoor area by Annie Spratt on Unsplash. April 2019.
Page reference: 615595
Review key: HISOG-53214
