Sex and Gender

1. Sex, Gender and Sexuality I

2. Sex and Gender
• Sex and Gender: what’s the difference?

3. Sex
• Sex refers to the anatomical and
physiological characteristics of
maleness or femaleness.
• Sex is determined by a combination of
genetics and the presence or absence
of hormones testosterone and estrogen.

4. Gender
• Gender can be divided into a number of
different components relating to ideas of
masculinity and femininity: gender
identity, gender presentation and
gender role.

5. Gender Identity
• Gender Identity: the sense of ourselves
as men, women or other gendered
beings.

6. Gender Presentation
• Gender Presentation: The behaviors
associated with masculinity and
femininity: speech, dress,
movement…etc.

7. Gender Roles
• Gender Roles: the social roles expected
of men and women in a particular
society.

8. Gender: Biology and Culture
• Gender is determined by a large variety
of factors, both biological and cultural.
• Gender socialization: the process of
learning and internalizing the norms of
our gender.

9. Transgender
• Transgender: is a broad term used to
describe individuals that identify with a
gender that is NOT associated with their
assigned birth sex…
• i.e. Males that identify as women and
females that identify as men.

10. Third Genders
• Some societies recognize there being
more than two gender
categories…something other than
“man” and “woman”. These Third
gendered people have different roles in
the societies they occupy.

11. Sexuality
• Sexuality can be broadly defined as
how people experience and express
themselves as sexual beings.
• Sexual orientation refers to established
patterns of sexual attraction, to the
same, opposite or both sexes.

12. Sexuality
• Thinking about sexuality in the form of
sexual orientation: (i.e. heterosexual,
homosexual, bisexual) is fairly recent
concept…
• Karl-Maria Kerthbeny is responsible for
coining these terms in the late 19th
century.

13. Heteronormativity
• Normative is a term used to describe behaviors
and actions considered to fit the “norm.”
• Heteronormativity is the idea that being
heterosexual is natural and normal…and that
other sexualities are Abnormal and Unnatural.
• Heteronormativity, then, is a feature of some, but
not all cultures.

14. Sex, Gender, Sexuality
• Just like the terms “race”, “ethnicity” and
“nationality” refer to different (though
related concepts, sex, gender and
sexuality are three different things.
• It’s important to understand that there
are many combinations of these three
attributes.

15. Berdache Tradition
• What is a berdache?
• How is one determined to BE a
berdache?
• What type of roles do berdaches play
within their societies.