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FP Library Book Lists

Gender & Sexual Orientation

Definitions

Dalton's Health Department defines gender as a complex interrelationship between 3 dimensions:

  • Body: Our experience of our own body; how society genders bodies and how others interact with us based on our body.
  • Identity: Our deeply held internal sense of self; who we know ourselves to be.
  • Expression: How we present our gender in the world; how society, culture and community, and family perceive, interact with and try to shape our gender.

Also, the Oxford English Dictionary states, "Sex tends to refer to biological differences, while gender more often refers to cultural and social differences and sometimes encompasses a broader range of identities than the binary of male and female.” 


 

Some suggested titles to open up discussions of gender and sexual orientation with children:

Additional Resources:

 

This infographic by Sam Killermann can be helpful for kids to understand the spectrum of gender and sexual identity.