Sex, Gender Identity, and Sexual Orientation

Sex Vs. Gender Sex is based on a person’s biological

features

Gender is used in different ways: Gender roles – behavioral characteristics

considered “masculine” or “feminine” Gender identity – internal sense of

ourselves as man, woman, or transgender

Biological Sex: Chromosome Abnormalities

Biological Sex: XX or XY Each parent contribute a

chromosome and sometimes things go wrong. For example women give an X chromosome and the father can give either an X or Y.

Fetuses are undifferentiated for sex until 8 weeks when the Y chromosome causes the body to secrete testosterone and the body forms male genitalia.

Hypothalamus and Pituitary glands regulate secretions of hormones by gonads in the ovaries and testes

In females, the hormone is estrogen. In males, it is androgen/testosterone.

Prenatal Hormone Abnormalities Andrenogenital

Syndrome (AGS) Too much androgen

is released to the fetus. Not a problem if you’re a male but females are masculine.

Genitalia will masculinize and more like a tomboy.

Androgen Insensitivity syndrome (AIS)

Baby doesn’t detect androgen. Boys don’t masculinize they develop female (XY)

No internal sex organs They are XY females. At puberty they grow

breasts but do not menstruate.

Gender Our race, class,

geographical, physical, and sexual identities affect and shape our gender and may change over time.

It may not remain the same from birth to death.

Gender Identity There are new terms that fall outside the two

gender categories our society has traditionally recognized: man and woman

Transgender – a person who identifies with or expresses a gender identity that differs from the one which corresponds to the person's sex at birth

Transsexual - a person who strongly identifies with the opposite sex and may seek to live as a member of this sex especially by undergoing surgery and hormone therapy to obtain the necessary physical appearance

Sexual Orientation

Sexual Orientation Our gender is about who we are; our

sexual orientation is about whom we find attractive.

How we identify our gender influences how we name our sexuality, and whom we are attracted to may change throughout our lives.

“Some of us choose not to label our

sexuality at all. It’s important not to assume that we know another

person’s sexual orientation or

identity.”

Types of Orientation Straight/ Heterosexual Gay and Lesbian/ Homosexual Bisexual Asexual – someone who is not

experiencing or acting on sexual attraction at a give time

Pansexual – someone who is attracted to people across the range of genders

Don’t confuse sexual orientation with gender identity!