Pansexual, third gendered, intersex – there’s a lot of terminology out there to describe how people identify themselves. To make things a little less cloudy, today’s post explores the terms surrounding gender, sex, and sexual orientation.
Biological sex is determined by an individual’s chromosomes and genitals. The vast majority of men have an XY chromosome pair, while women have XX. However, there are intersex individuals, whose chromosomes and/or genitals don’t develop in the expected way. Chromosomally, a person may be XXY, XXX, XX male, XY female, or several other variations. Physiologically, persons with chromosomal syndromes and non-chromosomal developmental differences might express few (if any) overt symptoms, have slightly feminized or masculinized features, or be sterile with ambiguous genitals.
Gender refers to characteristics and behaviors that make one seem male/masculine and female/feminine in the eyes of one’s culture and community. Until the 1950s, there was no real differentiation between biological sex and gender. This distinction took hold during the 1970s feminist movement, as activists challenged traditional gender dynamics. An individual’s gender expression – how one speaks, dresses, and acts to represent his or her associated gender – might fall outside the male/female binary. Pangendered persons identify as a mix of male and female, or a separate, third gender. Likewise, someone might identify as androgynous, between both genders or outside of the gender spectrum all together.
Transgendered people identify with a gender other than the one assigned to them at birth. Transgendered individuals may also be transsexual, identifying with a sex contrary to their biology or different than what they were assigned at birth. Sometimes trans people will undergo hormone therapy and/or sexual reassignment surgery (SRS) to become the sex they identify with. Despite the overlap, the two terms aren’t synonymous; some cross dressers or transvestites dress in the clothing of the opposite gender, while identifying with their birth sex and as heterosexual.
Finally, sexual orientation defines who an individual finds sexually and emotionally attractive. Although many people think of orientation in the black and white terms straight or gay, most authorities on the subject see it as a spectrum, ranging from “attracted to men” to “attracted to women.” Gay or queer can be used as a blanket term for any individual predominantly attracted to members of the same sex, or used specifically to refer to men attracted to men. Some women attracted to women accept gay, while others prefer lesbian. People attracted to both men and women may identify as bisexual, and others may identify as pansexual – potentially attracted to people of all genders and sexes. Likewise, someone might be asexual and uninterested in romantic or sexual relationships at all.
Some people might use these terms in different ways, while other might consider themselves fluid and switch between categories. Others don’t buy into labels at all. It might seem complicated, but our individual identities are complicated and… well… individual. All terminology aside, its up to you and you alone to decide who you really are. And that’s something worth thinking about.
