Quote by Laverne Cox

There are an infinite variety of ways to be a woman. My way of understanding who I am as a woman has changed through the years. Because I am not trans or non-binary, I have not HAD to consciously construct what it means to me to be a woman. Because I am not trans/non-binary I have had the luxury of making a lot of assumptions about myself and what it means to be a woman.

Although there are many additional difficulties that come with a non-traditional gender, I think one of the benefits is getting to fully understand and construct what it means to be who you are in a way that is very conscious and thoughtful. I think there is value for those of us in the cisgender community in looking at what it means to us to be a particular gender, what is our society, our culture, our religion or our family telling us it means, and what do each of us want to decide that means for ourselves. One thing I have decided it means to me to be a cisgender, heterosexual white woman, is that I need to use my privilege to lift up other voices. It means that although there are many ways in which I do not have power and privilege in this society, that there are many more ways that I do and that I have to use that power and privilege for good. What does your gender mean to you?