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Photography Laura Sawyer Design & Layout Ethan Earle

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“People (and society as a whole) get so caught up thinking there’s only two ways of living, as one or the other, but that’s not true. Ultimately, that’s what gender is — an arbitrary category imposed on us by those who came before.” Enforced by the stereotypes and culture the individual has faced during upbringing. “There are biological differences, but sex and gender are two very different things, and this is where so many people get confused! Gender is an essentially contested social construct, and a very fluid one at that — no two people’s perceptions of gender are exactly the same. Our society thrives on categorizing everything, this type of tree — that type of cat, that gender of human, but these categories are arbitrary.”

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No single individual demonstrates entirely stereotypical masculine or feminine traits, in fact, each individual employs both in their own personal way. This therefore makes it impossible to confine such a complex concept into such restricting parameters. Gender is innate, not a social construct, and this is being enforced by the new age, Generation Z.

“I see gender as an identity of the individual...�

I see gender as an identity of the individual in relation to our normative society. Gender is personally unique.

Through educating people of various gender identities, it also allows people of said minority genders to find one another in a sea of heteronormativity. In a world that is seemingly ignorant and even intolerant to genders outside of the norm and binary, wearing a label can break down barriers rather than build them.

I see myself as a cis male. However, I feel my psyche and identity, in relation to gender, stretches beyond the simplicity of ‘cis male’, beyond the simplicity of labelling. I do not dress and act like a stereotyped cis male, but does that make me gender queer, what am I? Labelling confuses and categories. So whilst I am a cis male, I am also unlike the other cis males that surround me every day. Even with the increasing number of gender identities, these identities still restrict me as an individual.

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— Elliot

We are a generation obsessed with labelling and categorising people. Who decided what defines masculine and feminine cultures? Besides the obvious biological differences, we are brought up exposed to all social and cultural variables therefore why does it displease people when we identify ourselves with the opposite sexes ‘culture’.

— Alice

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“Who decided what defines masculine and feminine cultures?�

Gender for me is an explanation for the world that was before me. As I grew up I saw girls wear boyish clothes, even my sister, and then it was considered a phase. I honestly did not care or think about what this could possibly mean.

I remember my earliest struggles with conceptions of gender were trying to guess if a person with an ambiguous hairstyle or dress sense was a boy or a girl. Gender and its previously accepted implicated societal expectations serves as a model for understanding the patriarchy that was before.

I grew up with a mum who performed both masculine and feminine household roles without a man, so gender serves little purpose for me as our world’s understanding of gender moves far beyond polarity, despite the remains of the patriarchy evident in the wage-gap.

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— Conor

Gender doesn’t really mean that much to me.

Man, woman, girl, boy; they’re just words. Letters grouped together to make sounds that are projected upon us from the day we’re born. Why do I have to prescribe to one? We categorise people from birth based on something as irrelevant as their genitalia, then seem shocked when they don’t abide by the expectations of those labels.

When I was a child I loved getting messy and being outdoors and doing adventurous and often reckless things. I remember listening to adults talk about me, hearing their shocked exclamations usually comprised of some variation of ‘Oh, she’s such a tomboy!’ Even today any mention of me as a child is met with amusement, as if my ‘tomboy’ persona was a phase that righted itself into a more feminine exterior as I got older.

In reality I think I probably just learned to tone myself down in order to fit in with what society expects of a ‘little girl’. As a child, before I became aware of the systemic oppression that people often face in response to their gender, I used to be quite proud of the label ‘tomboy’; I’ve always liked to feel competent and in control and perhaps I subconsciously picked up on society favouring these attributes in men. Now I just resent the fact that I have to be labelled at all. I am just me.

— Emily

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“Man, woman, girl, boy; they’re just words.

Letters grouped together to make sounds...”

Just like all other terminology, it is man-made. Gender is about being at one with yourself, it is personal and unique to you. The sheer complexities that gender imposes are simply far too complicated for words alone to describe ones’ self.

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— Ethan

A lot of people think that gender is this predisposition that has to be followed but it really isn’t. We’ve been given so many gender barriers from a young age. Blue for boys, pink for girls. Boys should do sport, girls should dance. I feel like this generation is so over that.

Gender is whatever you want it to be. Whether you have a penis or vagina has absolutely nothing to do with how you can and should act as a human being. — Chloe

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“Gender is whatever you want it to be.

Whether you have a penis or vagina...�

Gender, to me, is a new term in my vocabulary.

Although being a word I’ve often heard, I’ve never really understood it’s meaning and the differentiation between ‘sex’, and ‘gender’, until now. Growing up, girls were girls and boys were boys. There was no grey area. It wasn’t until recently that I realised how pre-determined my thoughts and actions were, based on stereotypical gender traits. So for me gender had always seemed very black and white as I knew no different, and to be honest I never realised that wasn’t right - but we are in the generation of change, and it is finally blurring. Gender now means something to me, because I never knew it meant anything. I never realised it gave me limitations and a social script to follow life by.

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— Megan

Eliminating the biological terms of gender, what makes up either of the binary terms of male and female?

Scrutinizing what society makes of these two terms presents us with a vast and extensive list of old fashioned and stereotypical preconditions. Aren’t we beyond that? We’ve overcome countless gender stereotypes already, Clothing? Sport? Jobs?

But admittingly still have a long way to go but is becoming increasingly attainable due to generation Z. Gender is innate, for me it is a spectrum and like a person’s personality or facial structure, no two people’s personalities or faces are precisely identical, they are things which are far too complex to conform to two designated boxes, gender should be considered in this way also. When will we as a society renounce gender identities and discontinue subscribing to these constraints? We are all just human.

— Emma

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“Gender is innate, for me it is a spectrum...�

Gender is a role you play within society, it traditionally defined and determined how you’d present yourself and interact with others but I believe it can be whatever you want it to be.

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— Ciaran

Gender has never been something I have put a lot of thought into until now. Gender, in comparison to sex is more about environmental, social and cultural differences between people, it’s innate and formed by a magnitude of things, whereas sex is the biological differences between male and female, therefore I believe our sex should not be what determines or defines our gender. Gender is malleable.

Thankfully lines between binary genders are becoming increasingly blurred within society today. — Devon

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“Gender is malleable. Thankfully lines between binary genders are becoming increasingly blurred within society today.�

“...I know who I am and I’m comfortable with whatever that may be.”

I’ve never questioned my gender, it’s just who I am. I’ve naturally fallen into what could be conceived as stereotypical boyish things but I can’t pinpoint the moment I thought I was a boy, some of my gender expressions could be considered more feminine but I know who I am and I’m comfortable with whatever that may be.

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— Aaron

Gender to me is devising between female and male.

Despite growing up with a certain genitalia, it doesn’t mean having to follow the stereotypical stigmatisms associated with it is correct. In the time and society which we live in now, gender and stereotypes are becoming vastly different and adapting, with people and society now accepting who they are by whatever way they dress or act, even if it doesn’t conform to stereotypical gender norms.

— Vicky

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