Across the world, gender is truly considered strictly masculine or feminine. If you step outside of this “social norm,” you might be considered an outcast. This dissociation includes biological male/female, intersex and transgender individuals. These people are severely repressed by society because their gender identification, behaviors, and even activities deviate from the norm. Most Americans are extremely attached to the concept that there are only two sexes. Therefore, restrictive American ideals of masculine and feminine gender identities inhibit the growth and acceptance of gender expression. Each genre is separated by untold rules or guidelines that it must follow. This in turn creates inner tensions that hinder personal growth. For men, this can be, or is, an extraordinarily arduous task. Most often, it is other male figures, such as the father, who administer and enforce certain rules. The most common of these rules includes that boys cannot cry, and if he does, he is considered to be behaving like a girl and therefore ridiculed. These simple statements can force boys to put their emotions aside, in other words, to put them “on the back burner.” This could affect the child's growth efforts and also create problems in their ability to understand their emotions as well as those of others. Traditionally, boys are forbidden from doing anything immensely feminine, such as ballet or dancing. Although these two activities are primarily aimed at girls, boys are included in these activities. For example, in the movie called Billy Elliot, there is a boy who struggles between his love for dancing and his father's expectations of him. Billy's father wants him to continue his boxing lessons (even though... middle of paper... surgeries, hormonal therapies, and frequent therapy sessions to become who he truly believes he is and knows he There is more to gender expression, gender identities and biological sex than can be observed. The reason we don't look for the differences between them is because some individuals are afraid of any difference that. breaks their social norm. Each person is unique in their own way by having vast differences and challenges that they may face in becoming themselves. These differences and challenges are what brings us together and make up the communities in which we live. They could be someone's teacher, best friend, sister or brother, they could even be someone's role model. These "different people", like intersex, transgender or even biological men/women. , which differ from our (daily) social norms are ultimately not so different..