Sex
| “ | So if the law requires that a person is male or female, should that sex be assigned by anatomy, hormones, cells or chromosomes, and what should be done if they clash? “My feeling is that since there is not one biological parameter that takes over every other parameter, at the end of the day, gender identity seems to be the most reasonable parameter,” says Vilain. In other words, if you want to know whether someone is male or female, it may be best just to ask. | ” |
—Claire Ainsworth[1] | ||
Sex broadly means two things:
- a synonym for gender. The word "sex" is often used to create a dichotomy between gender as a self-identity and gender as an essential or biological identity. This is problematic, as using the word "sex" (or any word) to support the existence of gendered biologies, or to mean gender designations at birth, supports dyadism, binarism, and transphobia continuing the oppression of intersex and trans, especially trans feminine and non-binary, people. In other words, "sex" used to refer to genitals is another manifestation of the gender binary.
- the act of having sexual intercourse.