Gender identity is one’s internal, personal sense of being, but gender expression is the external manifestation of one’s gender. In other words, expression is how one demonstrates who they are.
Gender can be demonstrated through actions, behavior, interactions, dress, and more. Expression varies from gender to gender and person to person, so a certain expression cannot be expected for different individuals with a shared gender. Occasionally, a person’s gender expression may not even match their gender identity.
In actuality, each person’s gender expression varies in different situations. For example, someone wakes up in a grumpy mood, wearing sweatpants, and simply not caring what they look like – at this time, they are experiencing a slightly masculine expression; the person walks down the hall, pours some cereal, and goes to pour the milk but drops the carton and squeals – at this moment, the person is expressing femininity; now the person groans and cleans up the milk – they might be experiencing masculine