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TheGaygency

Glossary

Gender Normative

Gender normative describes presenting, behaving, or identifying in line with a society's conventional expectations for one's gender.

Gender normative, sometimes called cisnormative or simply gender-conforming, describes a person whose gender expression and identity fall within the conventional expectations their society holds for someone of that gender. It is the counterpart to gender non-conforming. Being gender normative is one ordinary way of living and is neither better nor worse than any other. The concept becomes a problem when gender normativity is treated as the only acceptable option and used to police, shame, or exclude people who do not conform. The term is common in gender studies and LGBTQ+ education, where it helps name the default standards against which non-conforming and transgender people are often measured.

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