1.1: Introduction

Every known human society has developed systems for categorizing people by sex and gender, but those systems have varied dramatically. Many Indigenous cultures, for example, have long recognized gender identities beyond the categories of male and female, such as Two-Spirit identities among some Indigenous Nations (Roscoe, 1998), Hijra identity in South Asia (Nanda, 1999), and the five gender identities recognized by the Bugis of Indonesia (Davies, 2007). This variability demonstrates that the relationship between sex and gender is not straightforward. In Western societies, there is a long history of assuming sex and gender are the same thing, and the formal distinction between sex and gender is relatively recent, emerging primarily through feminist scholarship (e.g., Oakley, 1972; Rubin, 1975; Stoller, 1968).

While the distinction between sex and gender is now foundational in fields like psychology and sociology, it continues to meet resistance in broader cultural and political contexts. Part of that resistance rests on the assumption that biomedical sex falls neatly into two categories ("male" and "female"), yet even those have been defined and redefined in response to shifting scientific, legal, and political contexts. What is more, they do not account for the full range of human sex development, including intersex variations (Fausto-Sterling, 2000). Throughout the twentieth century, for instance, physicians routinely performed surgeries on intersex infants when their anatomy did not conform to male or female sex categories. This practice has been challenged by intersex advocates and human rights organizations as unethical (Amnesty International, 2017).

Understanding this history matters because the categories we use to describe sex and gender, and the language we use to discuss them, are not neutral. They shape who is recognized, who is marginalized, and who has access to power (Crenshaw, 1989; hooks, 1984). This chapter introduces the foundational concepts that will be necessary for studying the psychology of women. We will cover how sex and gender are currently defined, as well as common terms for gender spectrum identities. Then we will discuss the components of gender bias, and how they contribute to the power of hegemonic masculinity. Finally, we will cover the sociopolitical movements and theoretical frameworks that have challenged (and sometimes reinforced) these categories. Concepts introduced here will serve as the framework for the rest of this textbook.

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