(and yeah I’m ‘way behind on my weblog reading…)

it is a spectrum of many more factors than that, and its determination is lifelong, and dynamic.

Male and female are artificial poles that just happen to be legal constructs, while ur definition turns a legalism into a biologically based lie masquerading as truth.

It should read:

Biological sex is based on a myriad of factors, including hormones and chromosomes, and exists on a contunuum between two socially defined poles of “male” and “female” in a bimodal distribution.
It is not static throughout an individuals lifetime.
Most people are legally assigned to one or the other in a not always accurate process at or near birth. The people who are not easily assigned are assigned intersex, and brutally forced into one or the other legally defined poles.
biological sex is a legal fiction imposed on a natural reality that is too complex for a simple, static binary.

Please fix ur mistake.
-voz

I agree that language matters, but I sometimes feel frustrated by the continual focus on redefining words and debating exact shades of meaning. It’s not that these conversations bore me … I guess it’s a preaching-to-the-choir thing. We’ve created a jargon that’s only accessible to the subsection of people who think about sex and gender all the time. While I appreciate that jargon’s existence and find it useful, I wish that there were more of a focus on how we can use more commonly-understood words to get our message across to a larger section of the population.

what always makes me happy is how cool sex activists can be about recognizing trans IDs and even – gasp! – desires that aren’t binary.

Biological sex Determined by a combination of chromosomes, gonads, and hormones while the fetus is in the uterus.
Key terms: male, female, intersex

Gender identity An individual’s innate sense of maleness or femaleness (or something else entirely), as well as how those feelings and needs are both internalized and presented to others. Masculinity and femininity are not fixed opposites, there may be gray areas depending on the individual and their culture. Gender identity does not necessarily correspond with biological sex.
Key terms: man, woman, masculine, feminine, butch, femme, genderqueer, transgender (these are actually pretty much infinite, gender has many subtle and individual variations)

Sexual orientation Erotic, romantic and affectional attraction. Desire.
Key terms: heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, asexual (etc)

Sexual behavior The ways in which sexual impulses and desires are acted upon. Doesn’t always match orientation.
Key terms: MSM, WSW, MSW, WSW (these are shorthand used in sexual health clinics. MSM = men who have sex with men, etc)

Sexual identity “Public” announcement of a label for one’s sexuality. Sexual identity is never “wrong” – it is self-determined.
Key terms: straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual, fluid, queer

There are lots of places of cross-over and messiness among these, of course.

I have always found this subject confusing… It’s not an issue I personally wrestle with, so it can be hard to know what is correct.

I do, after a fashion, understand the annoyance at not being allowed to decide for oneself how one identifies, tho not personally regarding those issues.

I say all that time that yeah, I’m bisexual, but it’s not because sex and gender don’t matter to me. Of course attraction is based a lot on personality, but I’m also attracted to bodies, including all sorts of genitals. I’m attracted to many things that could be called a part of gender presentation.

Thanks for bringing this up, it is all very tricky but I think it’s important to talk about it.