3.3: Defining Sex and Gender

Exploring Sex and Gender

Sex and gender raise many important questions. What is gender? How do we identify another person’s gender? Is gender determined by reproductive organs and other physical sex characteristics, or is it communicated through outward cues such as clothing, hairstyle, voice, and body presentation?

Before beginning our discussion, it is useful to establish several working definitions. Although these concepts are closely related, they refer to distinct dimensions:

• Sex refers to a set of biological characteristics, including chromosomes, hormones, reproductive organs, and external anatomy. Although people are commonly classified as female or male, biological sex includes naturally occurring variations and does not always fit neatly into two distinct categories.
• Gender refers to the socially constructed meanings, roles, behaviors, expectations, and identities that societies associate with perceived sex differences. Gender varies across cultures and historical periods and shapes how people are expected to look, behave, communicate, and participate in social life.
• Gender identity refers to a person’s internal understanding and experience of their own gender. A person may identify as a woman, a man, nonbinary, gender-fluid, agender, or another gender.
• Gender expression refers to how a person communicates or presents gender through clothing, hairstyle, voice, mannerisms, behavior, and other outward characteristics. 
• Sexual orientation refers to a person’s pattern of romantic, emotional, or sexual attraction to others. Sexual orientation is distinct from gender identity: gender identity concerns who a person understands themselves to be, while sexual orientation concerns whom they may be attracted to.

In most societies, infants are classified at birth as either female or male, usually based on visible physical characteristics. This assignment often shapes expectations about how individuals should look, behave, and identify throughout their lives. Many people identify with the gender associated with the sex they were assigned at birth, but not everyone does.

This raises additional questions: What does it mean to be a boy, a girl, transgender, or nonbinary? Have you ever felt that you were "good" at being your gender? How would you know and how did you learn what was expected of you? Is gender something people are, something they do, or both? These are some of the complex questions explored throughout this chapter.

Licenses and Attributions for Defining Gender