Sexes: Difference between revisions

The sex and gender distinction is not universal. In ordinary English, ''sex'' and ''gender'' are often used interchangeably.<ref name=udry>{{cite journal|doi=10.2307/2061790 |first1=J. Richard |last1=Udry |date=November 1994 |title=The Nature of Gender |journal=Demography |volume=31 |issue=4 |pages=561–573 |pmid=7890091 |url=https://www.unc.edu/courses/2006fall/econ/586/001/Readings/Udry_Nature_Gender.pdf |jstor=2061790 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20161211012757/https://www.unc.edu/courses/2006fall/econ/586/001/Readings/Udry_Nature_Gender.pdf |archivedate=2016-12-11 |df= }}</ref><ref name="haig">{{cite journal|first1=David |last1=Haig |authorlink1=David Haig (biologist) |date=April 2004 |title=The Inexorable Rise of Gender and the Decline of Sex: Social Change in Academic Titles, 1945–2001 |journal=Archives of Sexual Behavior |volume=33 |issue=2 |pages=87–96 |pmid=15146141 |doi=10.1023/B:ASEB.0000014323.56281.0d |url=http://www.oeb.harvard.edu/faculty/haig/publications_files/04inexorablerise.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110525090802/http://www.oeb.harvard.edu/faculty/haig/Publications_files/04InexorableRise.pdf |archive-date=25 May 2011 |deadurl=yes |df= |citeseerx=10.1.1.359.9143 }}</ref> Some dictionaries and academic disciplines give them different definitions while others do not. Some languages, such as German or Finnish, have no separate words for sex and gender, and the distinction has to be made through context. On occasion, using the English word ''gender'' is appropriate.<ref name="Bograd-2015">{{cite journal|last1=Bograd |first1=Michele |last2=Weingarten |first2=Kaethe |title=Reflections on Feminist Family Therapy Training |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JHlsBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA69 |accessdate=11 February 2018 |series=EBL-Schweitzer |date=28 January 2015 |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |isbn=978-1-317-72776-7 |page=69 |oclc=906056635 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180508090147/https://books.google.com/books?id=JHlsBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA69 |archivedate=8 May 2018 |df= }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://global.finland.fi/gender/ngo/peruskasitteet.htm|title=Peruskäsitteet|access-date=2018-02-11|deadurl=no|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180508090148/http://global.finland.fi/gender/ngo/peruskasitteet.htm|archivedate=2018-05-08|df=}} (in Finnish)</ref>

The form of sexism called biological essentialism is the belief that your body is the main thing that makes you who you are. It is supposed to define you forever, no matter what you change about yourself, think about yourself, or anything. It says the gender you were assigned at birth must be your only real gender. Biological essentialism is used to justify most forms of sexism. It is harmful to virtually everyone, of any sex or gender.<ref name="Weiss">{{Cite web |title=How Gender Essentialism Hurts Us All |last=Weiss |first=Suzannah |work=Bustle |date=13 March 2017 |access-date=16 February 2021 |url= https://www.bustle.com/p/7-ways-gender-essentialism-hurts-everyone-43897}}</ref> Some [[transgender exclusionists]] use biological essentialism to discriminate against transgender and nonbinary people.

"Sex identity" can mean either how a person categorizes their own physical sex,<ref>"LGBTQI Terminology." [http://www.lgbt.ucla.edu/documents/LGBTTerminology.pdf] {{dead link}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| title=LGBT resources: Definition of terms |url=http://geneq.berkeley.edu/lgbt_resources_definiton_of_terms |archive-url =}}</ref> or it can mean how other people categorize that person's sex.<ref name="TGQTG">{{cite web| title=Trans, Genderqueer, and Queer Terms Glossary| url= http://lgbt.wisc.edu/documents/Trans_and_queer_glossary.pdf |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170210021940/https://lgbt.wisc.edu/documents/Trans_and_queer_glossary.pdf |archive-date = 10 February 2017}}</ref>

Some [[activism|activists]] advocate for society to cease assigning gender at birth. For example, author and lawyer [[wikipedia:Martine Rothblatt|Martine Rothblatt]] wrote: "As we gradually free ourselves from stamping newborn babies as one sex or the other, gender expectations will become self-defining and the full cultural liberation of all people can occur at last."<ref>{{cite journal|title=Gender Manifesto: a selection from The Apartheid of Sex |journal=TV/TS Tapestry Journal |date=Spring 1995 |number=71 |page=33 |url=https://archive.org/details/tvtstapestry7119unse/ |publisher= International Foundation for Gender Education}}</ref> In 2020, several MDs published an opinion piece in the New England Journal of Medicine stating that "Sex designations on birth certificates offer no clinical utility, and they can be harmful for intersex and transgender people. Moving such designations below the line of demarcation wouldn't compromise the birth certificate's public health function but could avoid harm."<ref name="ShteylerClarke2020">{{cite journal|last1=Shteyler|first1=Vadim M.|last2=Clarke|first2=Jessica A.|last3=Adashi|first3=Eli Y.|title=Failed Assignments — Rethinking Sex Designations on Birth Certificates|journal=New England Journal of Medicine|volume=383|issue=25|year=2020|pages=2399–2401|issn=0028-4793|doi=10.1056/NEJMp2025974}}</ref>

There is some controversy around the usage of the term "dyadic."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://fullfrontalactivism.blogspot.com/2012/09/dyadic.html |title="Dyadic"? |date=10 September 2012 |last=Astorino |first=Claudia |work=Full-Frontal Activism: Intersex and Awesome}}</ref><ref name="tcaa">{{Cite web |title=I'm sorry if this is bad to ask but why is dyadic a bad term to use? |author= |work=To Cultivate an Ally |date=27 October 2014 |access-date=19 June 2020 |url= https://transriley.tumblr.com/post/101068658963/im-sorry-if-this-is-bad-to-ask-but-why-is-dyadic}}</ref> ''Dyad'' means two, so ''dyadic'' promotes the idea of a dualism for sex: male and female. Although well intended, it may fall short of deconstructing binary of sex and acknowledging the complexity of human biology. Other common terms for "not intersex" are ''perisex''<ref name="Lanquist">{{Cite web |title=Definitions |author=Lanquist, L.A. |work=Trans Narrative |date= |access-date=19 June 2020 |url= https://lalanquist.com/definitions/}}</ref><ref name="themeaningofbi">{{Cite web |title=What tf is perisex |author= |work=Correcting Bisexuality Definitions One at a Time |date=17 July 2016 |access-date=19 June 2020 |url= https://themeaningofbisexuality.tumblr.com/post/147553978486/what-tf-is-perisex}}</ref> and ''endosex''<ref name="ihra_What">{{Cite web |title=What is intersex? |work=Intersex Human Rights Australia |date=2 August 2013 |access-date=19 June 2020 |url= https://ihra.org.au/18106/what-is-intersex/ }}</ref><ref name="anun_Biol">{{Cite web |title=Biological and Anatomical Sex: Endosex, Intersex & Altersex |author=Mx. Anunnaki Ray Marquez |work= |date=12 December 2019 |access-date=19 June 2020 |url= https://anunnakiray.com/2019/12/12/biological-and-anatomical-sex-endosex-intersex-altersex/ |quote=I prefer to use the word endosex to describe people who were not born intersex.  In the past 'dyadic' was used for this same purpose. The very word 'dyadic' implies that only two sex exist which is not accurate if we are to respect intersex existence. }}</ref>, which avoid this binary implication. Other proposed terms, which have not gained much use, include ''intrasex'' and ''juxtasex''.<ref name="tcaa" />

Intersex people are people born with any variation in [[sex]] characteristics including chromosomes, gonads, sex hormones, or genitals that do not fit the typical definitions of male or female bodies.<ref>[https://unfe.org/system/unfe-65-Intersex_Factsheet_ENGLISH.pdf "Free & Equal Campaign Fact Sheet: Intersex"] (PDF). United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. 2015. Retrieved 28 March 2016.</ref>