Gender and Identity in the Twenty-First Century

The Merriam Webster Online Dictionary defines the term ‘gender’ as: “the behavioural, cultural, or psychological traits typically associated with one sex”, whereas the definition of ‘sex’ reads: “distinguished respectively as female or male especially on the basis of their reproductive organs and structures” (Merriam-webster.com, 2016). In the past, and up until today, many people believed that the terms ‘gender’ and ‘sex’ are interchangeable. As the definitions of these words display, this is an incorrect view.
This essay will discuss the issues surrounding gender in the twenty-first century and how the emergence of transgender (trans) individuals (focusing on Caitlyn Jenner, in particular) in the spotlight of mainstream Western media is revolutionising the discussions and dialogue around and with transgendered people. Gendered issues are still a point of contention in almost all societies and cultures, with rife transphobia and sexism being practiced almost unconsciously by many of the world’s cisgender (people who identify as the gender assigned to them as a result of their biological sex) population.
The gender binary is the term given to the assumption that individuals either have to identify as ‘male’ or ‘female’, in every aspect and every situation in their life, and that there is no other choices. In actual fact, there is an entire spectrum of gender variation, as Connell (2009:60) states: “for any individual, gender