What Defines Our Gender? Is it the fact that we are born with certain genitalia? Or that our parents dressed us in pink or blue? Is our gender defined by the toys we played with as children or by the interests we had as young adults? While most of us identify with the gender we were born with, more than a million people in the United States alone admit to being transgender. Transgender is “an umbrella term that refers to those whose identities cross, move between, or otherwise challenge social society.” boundary constructed between the sexes. Although this may include a medical or social transition, it may not be. There is a difference between transgenders and transsexuals. Transsexuals do not identify with the sex they were assigned at birth and wish, successfully or unsuccessfully, to realign their gender and sex through medical intervention. These two terms are almost synonymous in our culture, however, and we tend to refer to people who wish to live with a different gender than the one they were assigned at birth as transgender, because the term is broader and more recognizable. Undergo sex reassignment surgery, also known as "sex reassignment", a series of medical procedures including hormone therapy and actual genital transformation surgery. The procedures are long and grueling, not to mention very expensive. The cost of reassigning a male to a female is typically between $7,000 and $24,000, while the cost of reassigning a female to a male can exceed $50,000. The problem is that most of these people cannot live the life they want to lead, before and after their sex change. Many Americans lack understanding and knowledge when it comes to transgender people. This is why transgender people face a wide variety of discrimination... middle of newspaper... people say that transgender people are not "real" men or women. This is probably the most hurtful thing you can say to anyone. This shows that we view transgender people as less human because of their gender identity. This is proof that we consider them outcasts and do not welcome them into our society. This is hateful and unacceptable. Everyone should have the right to be a man or a woman and to have their gender properly recognized. No matter how “unconventional” or “contradictory” they are. Especially in the United States, the land of the “free” and home of the brave. Kate Bornstein, author of “Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation” once said, “It's easy to fictionalize an issue when you're not there. aware of the many ways in which you are privileged. There are many ways to be human. And we don't get to decide how people are allowed to express themselves. Period.