Essay

DIVERSITY IN SEXUAL PRACTICES:

SEX AND GENDER

I. SEX vs GENDER

Sex = biology, female or male or intersex – differences anatomy, chromosomes, hormones

* 5-6 weeks when embryo is one quarter to one half inch long, basic anatomy (gonads, ducts, external genitals) have formed – at seven weeks after conception, differentiates into male or female – female gonads develop later than male, like ovaries form eleven to twelve weeks – brain also affected (hypothalamus)

Gender = social, cultural characteristics = femininity vs masculinity =

Sociologists argue that gender is also learned through socialization

II. INTERSEX

Person born with characteristics of both sexes or ambiguous genitalia

III. TRANSGENDER AND TRANSSEXUAL

A. DEFINITIONS

Transgender = person whose gender identity does not match anatomy, so they adopt social characteristics of other sex

Transsexual = person whose gender identity does not match anatomy, so they have surgery and/or hormones to change biologically into the other sex

B. SEX-REASSIGNMENT: PROCEDURES AND OUTCOMES

* MTF surgery more successful, but FTM even happier post-surgery

* Kathoeys/Ladyboys of Thailand

*hijra of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh:

5-6 million hijra in India: do they want sex change? “You really do not understand. I am the third sex, not a man trying to be a woman. It is your society’s problem that you only recognize two sexes.” – in India passport has options

* two-spirits/berdache: indigenous cultures of North America:

Lakota, Blackfoot, etc