Editing Sex

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[[File:ZwitterHauhechelblaeuling.jpg|thumb|A Common Blue (''Polyommatus icarus'') individual that is a gynandromorph, having a female form on one side and male on the other. Gynandromorphs occur in some animal species.]]
'''Sex''' is a system of categories, a way of putting kinds of bodies into categories. Living things of many species evolved to be specialized into their own male, female, and [[Intersex|intersex]] kinds, each known as a sex. A sex is generally determined by reproductive body parts. In humans, these imply-- but do not prove-- a correlation with chromosomes. In gender studies, the sex and [[gender]] of a person are thought of as two distinct things.

When people speak of a person's "sex", usually what they really mean is their [[assigned gender at birth]]. This is because a person's sex is much more difficult to determine than most people believe. For example, chromosomes are part of defining someone's sex, but most people never get their chromosomes tested. A baby's assigned gender at birth is based on only one thing: the presence or absence of what a doctor thinks is probably a penis. This will be the only basis of that child's [[Legal gender|legal gender/sex]]. As the person grows up, the doctor's guess about their sex can turn out to be wrong, because some [[intersex]] conditions only become clear once a person has gone through puberty. Even then, the person might have unusual chromosomes or internal reproductive organs without ever knowing about it.

"Sex identity" can mean either how a person categorizes their own physical sex,<ref>"LGBTQI Terminology." [http://www.lgbt.ucla.edu/documents/LGBTTerminology.pdf]</ref><ref>"LGBT resources: Definition of terms." [http://geneq.berkeley.edu/lgbt_resources_definiton_of_terms]</ref> or it can mean how other people categorize that person's sex.<ref>"Trans, genderqueer, and queer terms glossary." [http://lgbt.wisc.edu/documents/Trans_and_queer_glossary.pdf]</ref>

==Related articles==

*[[Sexism]]
*[[Intersex]]
*[[Assigned gender at birth]]
*[[Gender identity]]

==References==

<ref>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex</ref>
<references/>

[[Category:Concepts]] [[Category:Sex]]