Sex

Sex is a word of convenience that conflates many different concepts into one word. What we need is to define precise terms that are harder to argue about - as vague language makes everyone fight with each other. "Sex" can be divided into several, separate ideas:

• Chromosomal sex (e.g. "I have XY chromosomes")
• Gonadal sex (physical sex) (e.g. "I have testes")
• Self-identification (e.g. "I am a man")
• Sexual orientation (e.g. "I am attracted to women")
• Sexual intercourse (e.g. "I want to do sexy things with women")

To discuss sex, "male" and "female" need to be defined as well; here, we define "female" as the sex that generates the egg, and "male" as the sex that generates the sperm.

Chromosomal sex: This is sex according to genetics. The sex chromosomes of most mammals is XX (female) and XY (male), as defined by the above (for birds, it is ZZ (male) and ZY (female) - so if we had decided that same-pair sex chromosomes = female, then we would have to call hens male and roosters female). Roughly 99.8% of humans are either XX or XY, but many other combinations exist as well, often with varying levels of disability. In some disorders, XX or XY sex chromosomes may not result in the expected phenotype as well. Chromosomal sex is, of course, fixed.

Physical (Gonadal) sex: This is sex according to natural physical features; in adults, the differences are functional, i.e. to enable sexual reproduction (see below). In (most) mammals' case, gonadal inspection would suffice; for animals without visible sexual organs, other physical features can be used for differentiation. As mentioned above, occasionally chromosomal and gonadal sex can be different. The Guevedoces of the Dominican Republic are an interesting example of chromosomally male (XY) children who are physically female as children, but who sprout penises and become physically (and functionally) male after puberty. (Many animals, such as some fish, are able to actually change their physical sex to change their sex, and potentially become both mothers and fathers.)

Sexual self-identification (Gender): This is sex according to one's view of oneself, influenced by society. Not limited by biology (the two aspects above), self-identification need not be limited to human phenotypes only - for example, one could identify as the emperor of the world, or as a unicorn, or as a dog, and expect to be treated as such. (In ancient India there were some ascetics who lived and identified as animals such as cows or dogs.) Perhaps a more spiritual way of looking at this aspect could be to call it the "sex of the soul" - but we don't know if souls have sexes.

Sexual orientation: This refers to the target of one's sexual attraction (see below). Generally, humans are attracted toward other humans, sometimes only specifically (e.g. "redhead or brunette women of a certain size and shape"). Also not limited by biology, sexual orientation is also not limited to human phenotypes - not only could one be attracted to men and/or women, but also dogs, horses, trees, grapefruits, and so forth. Similarly, animals sometimes are reported to seemingly be sexually attracted to humans (from dolphins to horses to ostriches - this can be a frightening experience), but of course we cannot know for sure as we cannot reliably communicate with such animals.

Sexual intercourse: This refers to those sexual acts of pleasure and reproduction that biology (generally) gives us a powerful desire to engage in. These acts are related to one's sexual organs and targeted at one's sexual orientation(s) (see above). This desire often powerfully controls us (and other animals), whether at any time (e.g. humans, cats) or only during certain periods (e.g. estrus or musth) when many animals seem to "go nuts." Many religions and philosophies pointed out desire as something that needed to be controlled in order to exceed the lower animal state and rise to a higher level. Some animals have apparently no sexual desire (asexuality).

Thus, as per the above, we have 5 separate "sex" ideas. Although many combinations are possible, the most common combinations are:

• "Men:" Chromosomally male, gonadally male, identify as male, are attracted to females, and desire to have male-female sexual intercourse.
• "Women:" Chromosomally female, gonadally female, identify as female, are attracted to males, and desire to have female-male sexual intercourse.

Although "sex" is not binary, we can say that human sex is "mostly" binary. Binary sexual systems are most common in the animal kingdom, probably due to simple function. Even one-celled ciliates seem to have a binary sex of some sort - which we call E (even) and O (odd), since we cannot reconcile them to our own ideas of male and female.

What does this all mean?

Considering "sex" via clearer and more differentiated terms can be useful in considering different issues.

• In athletics, physical sex is the issue that affects results. (Chromosomal sex is influential only in as how it exhibits physically; self-identification (gender), and sexual orientation have no physical effect at all.) If, despite doing what felt like the right thing results in clearly unfair results - it is time to rethink what the right thing is.
• In corporations, physical sex or sexual orientation should of course not be a factor in hiring or evaluations. On the other hand, corporations were never fair systems in the first place, with bias being the top factor in making staff decisions. For example, it's well known that male CEOs tend to be tall, muscular, and have deep voices. The obvious way to get rid of discrimination in staff decisions is to create systems where aspects discriminated against become invisible.
• Sex is not a virtue. Chromosomal and gonadal sex are just aspects of our physical bodies that we should accept. Self-identity (gender) is a kind of "me" belief of how we want to consider ourselves that is highly influenced by groupthink; this is something that we should observe but not let go out of control. Sexual orientation and sexual intercourse is related to one of animals' most basal desires, which, again, we should observe and understand, but not allow to control or lead our lives. As humans, we have the ability to reason, which is our nature; while we still retain the impulsive nature of animals as well, losing our reason to let our desires run wild is not ideal or something to praise.