What is gender: The earlier understanding of

The earlier understanding of gender was that sex has to do with nature, and gender has to do with culture. This meant that for an individual, sex was biological, i.e. an individual was either a male with an XY chromosome or a female with XX chromosome. Sex refers to physical or physiological differences between males and females, including primary sex characteristics (the reproductive system) and secondary characteristics such as height and muscularity, deep voice, facial hair, etc. Gender identity, an individual’s self-conception as a man or woman or as a boy or girl or as some combination of man/boy and woman/girl or as someone fluctuating between man/boy and woman/girl or as someone outside those categories altogether. Gender identity is distinct from biological sex. Gender identity refers to our personal sense of self around gender: male, female, genderqueer or another identity entirely. Gender identity is separate from sex, although many people do feel their gender matches their assigned sex at birth. Gender identity refers to a person’s deeply felt, internal and individual experience of gender, which may or may not correspond to the person’s physiology or designated sex at birth.