- [Narrator] This video brought to you
by Wel Jong Niet Hetero will explain the Genderbread Cookie.
When you look around in this world,
everyone seems to be a woman or a man.
But what exactly does that mean, being a man or a woman?
And what does it mean when people wanna change their gender?
Or when they dress like the opposite sex?
And how about people that identify
as neither male nor female?
And when you are gay,
does that change anything about your gender?
To explain all of this,
we need the help of the Genderbread Cookie.
Before we start, it's essential to explain
the difference between your sex and your gender.
Sex is biologically-determined
and has everything to do with what's inside of your pants.
It is often assumed that everyone
is born either male or female.
But what a lot of people don't know
is that biological sex lies on a spectrum.
Everyone who is not 100% male or female
is called intersex.
Now, what exactly is intersexuality?
Approximately 1 in 3,000 babies
is born with ambiguous genitals,
which, for example, could look like this.
In this case, doctors often can't determine immediately
whether the baby is a boy or a girl.
There are also other ways
in which a person can be considered intersex.
For example, through a difference in the level
of your chromosomes, your gonads, or your hormones.
So what does the passport of an intersex person look like?
In Belgium it is up to now only possible
to be legally registered as an M or an F.
This means that there is no possibility for intersex people
to have their biological sex recognized by the state.
So people often have to choose
the sex of the baby at birth.
In the entire world, only seven countries
and five American states have some sort of legal recognition
for intersexuality, which is not a lot.
We covered sex, but what about gender?
Your gender or gender identity denotes how you feel.
A person can feel exclusively feminine or ultra-masculine,
but this too lies on a spectrum.
It is perfectly possible to feel
a little bit more masculine than feminine
or the other way around.
Some people feel both male and female
or neither and just wanna be themselves.
To define these gender identities,
a lot of complicated names exist, such as these ones.
Each of these words describes
a slightly different gender identity.
However, this is not written in stone,
and only you can decide which word fits you the best.
When one's sex and gender identity align,
for example, when you are born female
and you feel like a woman, we call this person cisgender.
However, when one's sex and gender identity
do not correspond, we call this person transgender.
We do not however use the word transsexual.
Originally, this word was used to describe
trans people who had undergone gender confirmation surgery.
But nowadays, this is considered outdated
and sometimes even hurtful.
Besides, not everyone who is transgender
wants to have a surgery, of course.
The third aspect of our gender
is comprised of how we present ourselves
to the outside world and of how others perceive us.
We call this our gender expression.
Just like the other aspects, your expression
can also be female or male or something in between.
A person's gender expression exists of many layers.
The most obvious one is, of course, the clothing you wear.
Do you wear manly clothes or feminine clothes?
However, also your haircut, the way ya talk,
the way ya move, walk, or sit,
the hobbies or interests you have,
the books you read, the music you listen to,
the movie jars you like, and even the drinks
you order on a night out are gendered.
So, basically everything.
Important to remember here
is that what is considered masculine or feminine
is incredibly time and location bound.
These ideas are not the same everywhere and at all times.
A funny example are high heels.
While the Western world now sees them
as typically feminine footwear,
in the Middle Ages, it was completely normal
for men to wear shoes like these.
Now, what exactly is meant with transvestism?
A transvestite is someone who takes on
the stereotypical gender expression of the opposite sex.
Here, for example, you see Lady Gaga
who takes on a male gender expression.
Or the world-famous drag queen RuPaul,
who takes on a female gender expression.
It doesn't all have to be so binary.
When someone doesn't limit themselves
to the categories of man or woman
and just mixes it all together, we use the word androgyny.
A widely known example of a person
with an androgynous gender expression is David Bowie.
The fourth aspect of your gender
has to do with who you are sexually
or romantically attracted to.
We call this your attraction.
You can feel attracted to men or women.
A person who likes people from the opposite gender
is called heterosexual.
A person who likes people from the same gender
is called homosexual.
You can also, of course, like both genders,
which is then called bisexuality.
Once again, it doesn't have to be so black and white.
Human sexuality is considered to be fluid,
which means that it is changeable throughout time
and depends on the situation.
You can, for example, feel incredibly attracted to men
but also a tiny bit to women.
Or, it could happen that even though
you felt attracted to women your entire life,
all of a sudden you fall in love with a man.
Some people also identify as pansexual.
In this case, your attraction is not confined
within the borders of the binary gender spectrum
and you actually feel attracted to a person's personality
rather than their sex.
Another sexuality which falls
outside of the spectrum is asexuality.
Asexual people do not feel
sexual attraction to others at all.
This, however, does not mean that they do not long
for a romantic relationship or affection, just no sex.
Even though you cannot choose your sexuality,
identity and labels seem to be very important
to define one's attraction.
Labels like gay and straight exist
because a lot of people find comfort
in the idea of belonging to a group
and use these words as tools
for explaining their identity to others.
These labels are, however, not clearly defined.
Which labels you choose to describe yourself
and how you define them is highly personal
and can never be wrong.
After all, nobody knows you better than yourself.
Moreover, you are not obligated
to give yourself a label at all.
As you see, your gender is a lot more complicated
than what they expect from you at birth.
The Genderbread Cookie's not even complete.
The construction of a person's gender
is an incredibly complex process which involves psychology,
biology, sociology, and so much more.
Capturing this process in a small cookie
would be very ambitious.
But it's a start.
(bright chiming music)