Terminology question

[purpletigron]

I hope this question is OK - please delete if not.

My question is about the usage of the terms 'sex' and 'gender'.

I find it useful to distinguish between sex - as biological genotype or phenotype - and gender - as social construct (and grammatical!) etc.

May I ask about how other readers define these terms?

Comments

[purpletigron]

Thank you for accepting my question.

I didn't mean to imply that sex is binary, nor that phenotype sex and genotype sex are always locked together.

I was already aware of Turner syndrome and triple sex chromosome conditions (XXX, XXY and XYY), but there are many more possible genotype sex variations.

Then of course there are many variations in how phenotype sex development can be expressed, which might be described as intersex, or XX male or XY female etc.

So I would say that all three, genotype sex, phenotype sex, and gender, are continua. We could say run from stereotypes at either end - but maybe that's an oversimplification too?

And then there is our own 'internal' mental/instinctive sex and gender perception.

Then there is the external ideas of gender which we receive from other people.

When I say that gender is social, I don't mean to imply that it's entirely externally imposed.

What do you mean by the word gender, exactly?

[floit63]

Oh these are the kinds of questions I encourage. It gets people thinking rather than deciding that one term or another is automatically bad.

I actually like the idea of a continuum for both sex and gender. It takes all possibilities into account without making any one option seem better or worse than any other.

By gender I tend to mean the internal feeling of being male, female, both, neither, other, etc. Sex I use to mean physical characteristics that may or may not have been medically altered (so transmen who haven't had any form of medical transition would be female, transmen who've started t/had top/etc would be FtM). Meaning a person could be genderqueer and ftm, female and female, genderless and male, or any number of other options.

[purpletigron]

Ah - that's completely different to how I use the term gender!

So ... do I have a term for 'my internal feeling of what is my genotypic sex and/or my phenotypic sex'? I suppose I would probably describe that as my 'sex identification'?

I do not know my genotype sex, all my phenotype sex markers seem to give the same answer, but my sex identification is pretty much neutral. I don't have a strong internal feeling of being sexed.

By gender, I tend to mean, the internal feeling and external expression of characteristics other than body shape which relate to how people build up ideas on the femininity-masculinity continuum: emotions, behaviours, body covering and adornment, hobbies and interests etc.

(Then of course, there's the sexuality continum! I have quite a strong sex drive, that seems to mainly trigger from personality and intellectual characteristics ... ).

So I identify as trans/inter-gendered.

[floit63]

This is EXACTLY why I love these kinds of discussions. There are so often arguments about terminology, but many of the terms we use have different meanings to each individual. Half the time we're arguing about things we don't actually disagree on.

I don't have any strong feelings about my sex either way and I've never had it tested. I tend to go by the "what you think it is until proven otherwise" model. So my physical sex would be FtM because I was born female (as far as I know), but now have male secondary sex characteristics. Then my gender would be male because...well, that's what I identify as. I'd be ftm-male.

I don't tend to use the "what other people" think model just because there are so often times when what people think and what a person sees themself as conflict. Most people within the trans community would consider me genderqueer. I'm not in any way, shape or form genderqueer. I simply happen to not be a butch-macho-man stereotype.

Inter-gendered isn't a term I'd heard before. I rather like it.

[purpletigron]

I'm glad that you are also enjoying our discussion!

I do think it's really important to be clear on the meanings of words when we wish to have an intelligent discussion ;-)

By the way, is that you in your usepic, if you don't mind me asking?

[floit63]

I WISH it was me! That's Nicky Byrne, a member of the Irish boy band Westlife. The picture is almost a decade old, but he's still just as attractive.

[purpletigron]

Ooo! That shows how uncool I am ;-)

[floit63]

Haha, nah. Most people ask if it's me. Unless you're a serious fan you likely won't recognise him. It's like automatically knowing which member of the Backstreet Boys is Howie.