If I’m understanding you correctly, I think the key distinction is that gender expression is completely arbitrary and based on the society you’re in, but gender identity is something that is tied to your inner sense of self/brain and seems to develop fairly early in children (3-4).
For example, wearing a piece of clothing that has a single opening for both legs and stops at the knees would be called a skirt and be considered solely a feminine gender expression in most areas, but a kilt and something considered a masculine gender expression if it has the right pattern and is in Scotland. There’s no functional difference between them, it’s completely social.
That said, we do live in a society and all that, and people tend to want their gender expression to match (or at least complement) their gender identity. What you wear and do doesn’t change who you are, but who you are likely changes how you feel about what you wear and do.
If I’m understanding you correctly, I think the key distinction is that gender expression is completely arbitrary and based on the society you’re in, but gender identity is something that is tied to your inner sense of self/brain and seems to develop fairly early in children (3-4).
For example, wearing a piece of clothing that has a single opening for both legs and stops at the knees would be called a skirt and be considered solely a feminine gender expression in most areas, but a kilt and something considered a masculine gender expression if it has the right pattern and is in Scotland. There’s no functional difference between them, it’s completely social.
That said, we do live in a society and all that, and people tend to want their gender expression to match (or at least complement) their gender identity. What you wear and do doesn’t change who you are, but who you are likely changes how you feel about what you wear and do.