Gender

Gender is a socially constructed classification system which categorizes individuals, traits, and institutions based on societal definitions of male and female. Social constructionists acknowledge that using male/female categories is not the only way of classifying individuals. For instance, while many nations describe people in this way, other societies include gender‐variant classifications such as hijras or berdaches . Acknowledging that gender is a social construction allows to make visible the implicit and performative elements of identity. Gender identity is an internal experience while gender expression consists of external actions which society then assigns value and meaning to. The use of the plural, identities, masculinities, and femininities, recognizes the dramatic variation in how different groups define gender. The future of gender studies will focus on the incorporation and acceptance of many forms of gender expression, definitions which have nothing to do with one's biological sex or romantic attraction.