Human Sexuality & Gender Expression

Sex is generally a term that denotes anatomy and other biological considerations like chromosomes and hormones. Gender is generally a term that denotes appearance, behavior, roles and identity. Many people consider there to be two sexes and two genders - male and female. However, the either/or perspective toward sex and gender is much more complex, something demonstrated when examining transgenderism, sexuality, and gender on a deeper level. As Nangeroni (2006) argues, "Simply put, sex is polarity of anatomy, gender is polarity of appearance and behavior," but when one gains familiarity with transgenderism "these definitions quickly break down" (p. 1).

In general, gender and sex are complex phenomena that impact human sexuality. For both males and females gender expression, sexual identity, and sexual orientation exist in a complex dynamic that is far removed from conventional either/or notions of these concepts. As Nangeroni (2006) argues, "It works best to think of all effects - sexual orientation, gender identity, sexual identity, and any others - as varying along a continuous spectrum of self-expression, rather than in just one of two or three ways" (p. 1). This analysis will discuss the ways that gender identity or expression impacts an individual's sexual orientation.

Sexual orientation equates to which sex an individual is romantically or sexually attracted to, such as heterosexual (opposite sex), homosexual (same sex), or bis

Related Essays

Human Sexuality .... and sexual behavior in the human female is .... exert minimal control over male sexuality in humans .... sexual orientation, sex identity, and gender expression as "either .... (3331 13 )

Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity .... constructs constructed to categorize human sexuality that serve .... and regulation of sexuality." The powerful male .... sexual desire or gender expression through such .... (897 4 )

LOVEMAPS Introduction/Summary Lovemaps by Mon .... exposure to tabooed expression of sexuoeroticism .... represent his unique interpretation of human sexuality. .... example those regarding gender differentiation, may be .... (1371 5 )

Waiting Room & Written On The Body .... mocks the overuse and cliched natured of the expression I love you .... anything as complex, beautiful, mysterious, and varied as human sexuality or gender from a .... (1915 8 )

Sexual Behavior in Public .... these institutions dictate the intensity of sexual expression permissable in .... By age 5, the child's gender identity is .... Social policy aspects of human sexuality. .... (1724 7 )

pseudohermaphroditism is high there are expanded categories of gender and sex expression. As Abramson and Pinkerton (2002) report: In a three-sex system, with its fuzzier boundaries, the person's sex and identity are reckoned in relation to a more complex sexual code and social field having three alternative socialization regimes and outcomes, each of which is known to be historically coherent male, female, and hermaphroditic. (p. 127) Unlike most western cultures, those who are hermaphroditic are not viewed as aberrant men trying to be women or women trying to be men but as a distinct third gender. The importance of this is that those who are hermaphroditic do not face the social ostracism or prejudice associated with U.S. culture and its view toward hermaphrodites. Likewise, hermaphrodites in these cultures are offered a full range of rights comparable to men and women. The fields of medicine and psychology are often guilty of reinforcing "either/or" conceptions of attributes like gender expression, sex identity and sexual orientation that can be limiting and damaging to individuals whose expression across these attributes does not fit into such rigidly defined notions. Wilson (2005) argues that "Although human sexual

Category: Psychology - H