Human Sexuality

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 (1) 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."

Sexual orientation equates to which sex an individual is romantically or sexually attracted to, such as heterosexual (opposite sex), homosexual (same sex), or bisexual (both sexes). Gender identity is more of a social perception of the self by the individual, encompassing a view of the self as a male, a female, or a combination of the two. In some cases individuals may not view themselves as either male or female, thereby seeing themselves "androgynously" in their social relating (Nangeroni 1). Sexual identity is the physical view one maintains of the self, a view that encompasses males, females, and transsexual or transgender. According to Nichols (1) transgendered individuals are those individuals "whose gender identity or gender expression contrast with traditional social norms and expectations

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rd gender. 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 (1) argues that "Although human sexual orientation and gender identification represent distinct phenomena and are considered largely orthogonal, they are intricately intertwined in medical theory and social consequence." This often leads to misleading notions in society that can have damaging consequences for individuals who do not conform to what are viewed as "norms" among such attributes. For example, Wilson (1) reports that "most gays and lesbians do not crossdress and most crossdressers are heterosexual," but in most western cultures such expressions are viewed as linked to a homosexual sexual orientation. Psychological explanations tend to further obscure deeper knowledge and insight into such attributes, such as the majority of "prevalent psychodynamic explanations for male-to-female transgender identity and expression being closely linked to those for male homosexuality" (Wilson 1). Though homosexu

Category: Psychology - H