Sex and
gender are terms that are often used interchangeably and
frequently seen as synonymous. For purposes of a
discussion that leads to greater understanding of human
sexuality, let’s consider sex and gender as separate
concepts. Additionally, let’s examine variations and
aspects of sex and gender. And let’s further consider
the notion that one’s sex and gender may not be defined
in the extremes but instead along a continuum.

Sex and gender can be discussed and understood in terms
of physical, psychological, social, and emotional
perspectives. What do the various labels mean? What is
meant by sex, gender identity, gender expression, and
sexual orientation? This is an attempt to delineate the
differences and clarify the terminology.

SEX (Physical)
Male or Female

Sex is described with regard to physical elements and in
terms of one’s biology and anatomy. A person’s sex is
defined as his or her medical assignment as manifest
through organs, genitals, hormones, and chromosomes.
A person might be male or female. Or a person might be
intersex (hermaphroditic).

GENDER IDENTITY (Psychological)
Man or Woman

Gender
identity is one’s psychological understanding of self.
It is defined in terms of roles, perceptions, and self
concept. A person’s gender identity can be described as
the way in which he or she views him or herself. A
person might be a man (boy) or a woman (girl). Or a
person might be transgender, genderqueer, two-spirited, or
third-gender.

GENDER EXPRESSION (Social)
Masculine or Feminine

Gender
expression is a social construct. It can be defined with
regard to societal expectations and interpretations. A
person’s gender expression can be described as the way
in which he or she communicates his or her gender to
others. It is manifest through outward appearance,
mannerisms, clothing, hair style, and speech pattern.
A person might be masculine (butch, top) or feminine
(femme, bottom). Or a person might be agender,
androgynous, or a transvestite.

SEXUAL ORIENTATION (Emotional)
Homosexual or Heterosexual

Sexual
orientation is described as one’s emotional identity. It
can be defined in terms of one’s romantic or erotic
response. A person’s sexual orientation is described
with regard to sexual behavior and is manifest through
attraction, affection, relationships, and love. A
person who is attracted to persons of the same sex are
homosexual (gay, lesbian) and a person who is attracted
to persons of the opposite sex are heterosexual
(straight). A person might also be bisexual (both
sexes), asexual (neither sex), pansexual (all
variations), or omnisexual (all variations).

In an attempt to
understand sex and gender, it is important to consider
new perspectives and ever-widening definitions and
understandings of sexual orientation, gender identity,
and gender expression as they exist across a spectrum of
experiences.

To that end, one of the key points is the
concept of a non-binary understanding of sex, gender,
sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender
expression. There is a long-respected research-based
view of an individual’s range of experiences along a
continuum. Matters of sex and gender should not be
defined in mutually exclusive dualistic terms, but in
more fluid, sometimes ambiguous, terms. When thinking
about sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity,
and gender expression, researchers have come to embrace
a view that understands a range of experiences on a kind
of broad-band spectrum.

When thinking about the sexual notions of
male and female, we are asked to also consider a variety
of definitions in between the two binary labels,
including intersex presentations.

When thinking about the gender identity
notions of man (boy) and woman (girl), we are asked to
also consider a range of definitions in between the two
designations, including gender fluid, gender
non-conforming, gender variant, and gender queer
identities. Transgender and transsexual persons
fall within this spectrum.

When thinking about the gender expression
notions of masculine and feminine, we are asked to also
consider a variety of ambiguous or mixed expressions in
between, including agender
and androgynous expressions.

When thinking about the sexual
orientation notions of heterosexual (straight) and
homosexual (gay, lesbian), we are asked to also consider
a range of definitions in between the two extremes,
including bisexual, pansexual, omnisexual, polysexual,
and asexual orientations.

Biological
sex includes external genitalia, internal reproductive
structures, chromosomes, hormone levels, and secondary
sex characteristics such as breasts, facial and body
hair, and fat distribution. These characteristics are
objective in that they can be seen and measured (with
appropriate technology). The scale consists not just of
two categories (male and female) but is actually a
continuum, with most people existing somewhere near one
end or the other. The space more in the middle is
occupied by intersex people (formerly, hermaphrodites),
who have combinations of characteristics typical of
males and those typical of females, such as both a
testis and an ovary, or XY chromosomes (the usual male
pattern) and a vagina, or they may have features that
are not completely male or completely female, such as an
organ that could be thought of as a small penis or a
large clitoris, or an XXY chromosomal pattern.

GENDER IDENTITY

Gender
identity is how people think of themselves and identify
in terms of sex (man, woman, boy, girl). Gender identity
is a psychological quality. Unlike biological sex, it
can't be observed or measured (at least by current
means), only reported by the individual. Like biological
sex, it consists of more than two categories, and
there's space in the middle for those who identify as a
third gender, both (two-spirit), or neither (genderqueer). We lack
language for this intermediate position because everyone
in our culture is supposed to identify unequivocally
with one of the two extreme categories. In fact, many
people feel that they have masculine and feminine
aspects of their psyches, and some people, fearing that
they do, seek to purge themselves of one or the other by
acting in exaggerated sex-stereotyped ways.

GENDER EXPRESSION

Gender
expression is everything we do that communicates our
sex/gender to others: clothing, hair styles, mannerisms,
way of speaking, and roles we take in interactions.
This communication may be purposeful or accidental. It
could also be called social gender because it relates to
interactions between people. Trappings of one gender or
the other may be forced on us as children or by dress
codes at school or work. Gender expression is a
continuum, with feminine at one end and masculine at the
other. In between are gender expressions that are
androgynous (neither masculine nor feminine) and those
that combine elements of the two (sometimes called
gender bending). Gender expression can vary for an
individual from day to day or in different situations,
but most people can identify a range on the scale where
they feel the most comfortable. Some people are
comfortable with a wider range of gender expression than
others.

SEXUAL ORIENTATION

Sexual
orientation indicates who we are erotically attracted
to. The ends of this scale are labeled "attracted to
women" and "attracted to men," rather than "homosexual"
and "heterosexual," to avoid confusion as we discuss the
concepts of sex and gender. In the mid-range is
bisexuality. There are also people who are asexual
(attracted to neither men nor women). We tend to think
of most people as falling into one of the two extreme
categories (attracted to women or attracted to men),
whether they are straight or gay, with only a small
minority clustering around the bisexual middle. However,
Kinsey's studies showed that most people are in fact not
at one extreme of this continuum or the other, but
occupy some position between.

The sociology of gender is a
prominent subfield of sociology. Social interaction
directly correlated with sociology regarding social
structure. One of the most important social structures
is status. This is determined based on position that an
individual possesses which effects how he/she will be
treated by society. One of the most important statuses
an individual claims is gender. Public discourse and the
academic literature generally use the term gender for
the perceived or projected (self-identified) masculinity
or femininity of a person.

The term “gender role” was coined by John Money in a
seminal 1955 paper where he defined it as "all those
things that a person says or does to disclose himself or
herself as having the status of boy or man, girl or
woman."

A person's gender is complex, encompassing countless
characteristics of appearance, speech, movement and
other factors not solely limited to biological sex.
Societies tend to have binary gender systems in which
everyone is categorized as male or female. Some
societies include a third gender role. For instance, the
Native American Two-Spirit people and the Hijras of
India. There is debate over the extent to which gender
is a social construct or a biological construct.

A significant barrier
to creating fully inclusive schools is the presumption
that sex, gender, and sexual orientation fit neatly into
a binary model.

This binary world is
populated by boys and girls who are viewed as polar
opposites. This world conflates biology, gender
expression, gender identity, and sexual orientation,
relegating people to rigid categories: male or female,
gay or straight.

Schools have a
history of reinforcing binary perceptions of sex and
gender. Even before children enter most schools for the
first time, parents or guardians are asked to check male
or female boxes on registration forms. On the first day
of school, teachers might shepherd students to class in
boy and girl lines. Restrooms are designated for boys
and girls. Everywhere there are expectations about what
kind of imaginative play and dress-up is appropriate for
whom, about who is naturally rambunctious and who is
predestined to quiet studying. As students get older,
they are subjected to gendered expectations about
extracurricular activities, dating and dress, even what
colleges and careers they’re encouraged to pursue after
graduation.

If we truly want to
include all students, we need to look beyond binaries to
create practices that include school communities’
diverse representation of biological sex, gender
identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation.

For most people, the
anatomical indicators of sex line up in a way that is
typically understood as male or female. However,
intersex conditions also occur naturally in all species,
including humans. Intersex refers to a variety of
conditions in which an individual is born with
reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn’t fit the
typical understanding of female or male bodies.

In the past three
decades, more than 25 genes have been identified that
were once believed to be associated solely with male or
female biology, but in fact exhibit more complex,
nonbinary variations. With the advent of new scientific
knowledge, it is increasingly evident that biological
sex does not fit a binary model. Intersex conditions are
increasingly being recognized as naturally occurring
variations of human physiology.

Following years of
organizing by intersex activists, momentum is growing to
end what was once a standard practice of
“gender-normalizing surgery” performed on intersex
infants with ambiguous genitalia. In 2013, the United
Nations condemned the use of this unnecessary surgery on
infants, putting it in the same category as involuntary
sterilization, unethical experimentation or reparative
therapy when enforced or administered without the free
and informed consent of the person receiving the
surgery.

Gender Identity

Gender identity is an
individual’s deeply held sense of being male, female, or
another gender. This is separate from biological sex.

Some children become
aware at a very young age that their gender identity
does not align with their physical sex characteristics,
even expressing the disconnect as soon as they can talk.
Other transgender and gender-expansive people recognize
their gender identity during adolescence or adulthood.

Individuals whose
biological sex and gender identity “match” rarely think
about the alignment of biology and identity because they
have the privilege of being considered normal by
society. People whose gender identity and biological sex
align are called cisgender. Cisgender is an important
word because it names the dominant experience rather
than simply seeing it as the default.

Individuals living
comfortably outside of typical male/female expectations
and identities are found in every region of the globe.
The calabai and calalai of Indonesia, the two-spirit
Native Americans found in some First Nation cultures,
and the hijra of India all represent more complex
understandings of gender than a binary gender model
allows. At least seven countries (Australia,
Bangladesh, Germany, India, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan) recognize a third gender for legal documents.
As people around the world use a growing variety of
terms to communicate their gender identities, Facebook
now offers its users 52 options with which to define
their gender.

Gender Expression

Gender expression can
be defined as the way we show our gender to the world
around us. Societal expectations of gender expression
are reinforced in almost every area of life. Even very
young children are clear about the gendered choices that
boys and girls are “supposed to” make in relation to
toys, colors, clothes, games and activities.

Girls whose gender
expression is seen as somewhat masculine are often
considered tomboys. Depending on the context and the
degree to which they transgress norms, tomboys might be
seen positively, neutrally or negatively. For example, a
girl who identifies as a gamer geek, cuts her hair short
and wears clothing perceived as masculine may be labeled
as a “cute tomboy” or met with words intended to hurt,
such as dyke or freak.

Positive or neutral
labels are harder to come by for boys whose sex and
gender expression are seen as incongruent. Common words
used to describe such boys tend to be delivered with
negative (sometimes hateful) intentions, words like
sissy and faggot. There also is little room
for boys to expand their gender expression. Just wearing
a scarf or walking in a stereotypically feminine way can
lead to abuse from peers, educators or family members.

Sexual Orientation

Sexual orientation is
about our physical, emotional and/or romantic
attractions to others. Like gender identity, sexual
orientation is internally held knowledge. In multiple
studies, LGBTQ youth reported being aware of their sexual
orientation during elementary school, but waited to
disclose their orientation to others until middle or
high school.

Students might
identify as bisexual, pansexual, queer, asexual, or use a
host of other words that reflect their capacity to be
attracted to more than one sex or gender or not to feel
sexual attraction at all. This emerging language
illuminates a complex world in which simple either/or
designations such as gay or straight are insufficient.

The overlap and
conflation of gender identity and sexual orientation can
be confusing for individuals trying to make sense of
their own identities as well as for those who are clear
about their identities. It can also be complicated for
anyone seeking to support them. In her book Gender Born,
Gender Made, psychologist Diane Ehrensaft describes a
teenage client who, over the course of a few weeks,
identified in seemingly contradicting ways, including as
androgynous, as a gay boy and, eventually, as a
heterosexual transgender female. This young person was
involved in a dynamic process that illustrated both the
way sexual orientation and gender identity are
intertwined and how they are separate.

Embracing a Spectrum
Model

As we have seen,
binary notions of gender, biology, and sexual orientation
exclude large swaths of human diversity. This diversity
can be better understood by using spectrum-based models.
Spectra make room for anyone whose experiences do not
narrowly fit into binary choices such as man/woman,
feminine/masculine, or straight/gay.

Gender-expansive and
genderqueer are two of many terms used by people to
describe themselves as somewhere on a gender
spectrum or outside of the either/or choices relating to
sex and gender.

A spectrum model not
only makes room for people who are gender-expansive but
for those who are perceived to be more typical as well.
A spectrum provides an avenue to a deeper understanding
of the separate yet interrelated concepts of biological
sex, gender identity, gender expression and sexual
orientation. For educators, this understanding is a
critical first step toward changing school-based
practices and toward being advocates for all
students, regardless of where they fit on any spectrum.