Separating Gender from Sex

By Kate Butler
April 2009

Tags: basics, chromosomes, science and society

These gender symbols were first used in the 18th century to denote the gender of plants. The sign for woman is on the right, and the sign for man is on the left.

Have you ever been puzzled about the difference between the terms male and man? Or female and woman? Maybe you think they mean the same thing, but one is more technical than the other...

Actually, gender and sex are very different: gender, meaning whether we identify as a man or a woman, is connected to but separate from biological sex. Gender typically refers to attitudes, behaviours and self-identification as masculine or feminine. Gender can be on a scale of sorts – in a spectrum of masculinity to femininity, one can occupy either end, or they can be somewhere in the middle.

Questions of gender and sex are not straightforward: there are variations that occur at the chromosomal level, and there are incidents when individuals feel that they may not be born into the right body, or assigned the right gender. This article will explore questions of chromosomal variations, as well as what happens when people question their sex or gender. While these are two very different issues, they both indicate that sex and gender are not as straightforward as they first appear.

Sex Chromosomal Variations
It might seem at first glance that ‘sex’ should be less confusing than ‘gender’, as there is not the same subjective scale in terms of where one might situate oneself in terms of chromosomal makeup – your genes are not something that you can easily change. However, while most people do have XX (female) or XY (male) sex chromosomes, there are certainly variations. Although these variations involve genes, most of them are not hereditary. Instead, they tend to come about from random occurrences during formation of reproductive cells (eggs and sperm). For example, sometimes people are born with only one X chromosome (Turner's Syndrome) due to random events during reproductive cell formation, such as when there is an error in cell division.

Male sex chromosome abnormalities include individuals with the genotype XXY (Klinefelter syndrome), and those with the genotype XYY (Fausto-Sterling, 2000: 51). Individuals with Klinefelter syndrome tend to identity as male, but they are often infertile and can have enlarged breasts. As XXY (and XXXY) men enter puberty, they do not produce as much testosterone as other males. For men with a XYY genotype, they tend to produce high levels of testosterone, and appear similar to XY genotype males in many other ways. Indeed, when tested clinically, many XYY males do not appear that different from XY males, even if they were identified as being XYY through prenatal chromosomal testing. They are usually fertile.

Female sex chromosome abnormalities can be seen among individuals with only one X chromosome (often written XO), and those with the genotype XXX. Individuals with an XO genotype tend to identify as female, and this condition is associated with limited development of sex organs and infertility (Fausto-Sterling, 2000: 47). As well, girls with Turner syndrome are often short in height, but if this condition is discovered before they reach puberty, they can receive growth hormones to help them grow taller. For women with XXX genotype, sexual development is normal, but they may be a bit taller than average females and/or may have slight learning disabilities.

Questioning One’s Sex and/or Gender
Things can get particularly confusing when we start to look at individuals who believe that they were born in the wrong body. We use the notion of transgender to refer to individuals who feel that their gender assigned to them when they were born does not accurately represent what their gender should be. This can lead to sex-change/sex-reassignment operations, where people physically undergo an operation to change their sex. People who feel as though they were born in the wrong body usually have normal chromosomal patterns. Instead, they feel that their sex (male or female) does not represent who they truly are. Individuals who are transgendered may or may not choose to have sex-change operations.

Transgendered individuals, particularly transgendered youth, often have a difficult time fitting into society. This is because there is little in the way of mainstream emotional support, especially in places where young people have access to, like high schools and youth centres. For example, many women’s centres will not allow M-to-F transgendered individuals to join their organizations. We expect people to be either male or female and so it can be confusing when someone does not easily fit into one of these categories. In addition, there have been numerous incidents of discrimination and prejudice against people who try to ‘pass’ as someone of the opposite gender.

If we look at questions of policy and politics, provincial laws vary across the country about how one may go about changing one’s sex or gender. All provinces require a physician’s signature indicating that sex reassignment surgery has occurred before an individual can have the sex on their birth certificate changed. In terms of actually getting sex reassignment surgery, the Canadian medical system in most provinces will help pay for the operation itself. However, there are very few spaces in public hospitals for these operations to occur, and transportation costs to the hospital and other incidental costs are not covered. Private clinics may offer these surgeries, but often the costs are astronomical. The emotional, social, and physical pains of undergoing sex-change operations prevent many individuals who would otherwise choose to go forward with this option from doing so. At the same time, there is still considerable stigma around sex-change operations, again making it more difficult to normalize this type of procedure into the Canadian health care system.

Conclusion
Sex and gender are often assumed to be one and the same in our society. We tend to throw these words around interchangeably, even though they signify very different aspects of self. This is a problem because there are times when sex does not equate gender (and vice versa). Some examples of when this might occur include sex chromosomal variations, and when someone is transgendered. It is helpful, therefore, to get a better sense of how and why these two concepts are connected but separate. By doing this, it will be easier for individuals who do not fit easily into the categories of ‘man’ or ‘woman’ to explore their true identities without fear of prejudice or discrimination. For those who do not have the usual sex chromosomes, we will also be better able to understand particular issues or concerns, perhaps around questions of infertility and pubertal development, when we realize that these variations exist.

References:
Fausto-Sterling, Anne (2000). Sexing the Body: Gender Politics and the Construction of Sexuality. New York: Basic Books.