What is Gender?

What is gen­der, when you’re look­ing at it out­side society’s defined roles? I’m not sure that I know the answer to that ques­tion, or at even that I under­stand it, despite hav­ing lived for more than fifty years as a man, albeit a gay man, at least as far as I can fit even that mold. I almost said soci­etal norm. Isn’t that fun­ny! In 2014, I am talk­ing about being a gay man as  soci­etal norm. Imag­ine how that feels. You know, I start­ed out believ­ing that, as a gay man, I was the ulti­mate out­law, nev­er real­iz­ing that there would come a day when that was a “soci­etal norm.”