Sex and Gender and Sex

Abstract

This article challenges some of the prevailing notions pertaining to non-binary sex and fluid gender in modern academia. Beginning with a look at the history of the sex vs. gender debate, it turns to the study of genetics to determine how binary sex is, overturning many current beliefs about the biological bases of multiple sexes. It then considers four case studies of so-called fluid gender in world history—Mesopotamian women as men, Albanian virgjinéshē, and Indian devadāsīs and sādhini—which show that these apparently “male women” never lose their feminine gender in spite of provisional male prerogatives. In all cases, it is their sexuality that ties them to their gender. The article ends with a consideration of how unreflective adoption of non-binary sex and fluid gender undermines the goals of feminism.

The Origins of Gender, not Sex: Evolution and the Reproductive Axis

“…• The social constructionist or social learning perspective suggests that gender roles are shaped by social conditions and external motivators, as in social exchange theory (Tate, 2014). According to Budin (2020), social gender can be fluid, and this fluidity affects the way boys and girls learn and develop their understanding of behavior (Bussey & Bandura, 1999). • Jean Piaget's 1923 paper entitled "The Language and Thought of the Child" illustrates that children's understanding of gender is influenced by their cognitive development.…”

“…Human beings have either XX or XY sex chromosomes in every cell, which determine whether they produce sperm or ova, and ultimately whether they are male or female (McCarthy, Nugent, & Lenz, 2017). The binary nature of sex cells is a fundamental aspect of human biology (Budin, 2020;Parker, 2021) and embryos are assigned a 'sex', not a 'gender', based on their biological characteristics (Broughton et al, 2017).…”

“…Individuals affected by CAIS have a female phenotype although they have an XY karyotype (Kulshreshtha et al, 2009). In utero, individuals with CAIS do not respond to TTS or other androgens but respond to estrogens, which leads to the development of female characteristics (Budin, 2020). Hence, they appear female and exhibit typical female behavior, including female gender identity, sexual orientation, and childhood play behavior (Hines, 2011).…”