Her Campus Logo Her Campus Logo
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Tampa chapter.

Do you know the difference between gender and sex?

If you think that gender is being a female or a male, you are wrong.

 

Gender is “A collection of beliefs and practices based upon shared assumptions about relationships between sex categories and bio-social behavior patterns that shift over time and from place to place”.

The 3 most common genders in our society are:

 

Transgender

– People who reject the sex category they are assigned to and seek to live socially and/or biologically as a member of another sex category.

– Transmen

– When you were born as a female but identify yourself as a male.

– Transwomen

– When you were born a male but identify yourself as a female.

 

Non-binary Transgender

– People who reject sex categories and/or gender categories in total (i.e., gender-non-religious or gender-agnostic) to live as people expressing aspects of the sex and gender spectrum as they wish.

Ex. Genderqueer, Agender, Gender Fluid, Bi-gender, Crossdressing People

 

Cisgender

– People who conform to the sex category assigned to them by society, and attempt to behave as they are supposed to based on that categorical placement.

Ex. Women and Men

 

Sex is a “Categorization of beings into different groups based on interpretation of genitals, genetics, and other physiological components by social authorities”.

People are generally ascribed to a sex category at birth. There are 35 common Sex Categories in nature. However, we are usually taught about there only being two….

– Female

– Male

– Intersex (contains 33 different physiological types)

 

I hope this broadens your perspective on social issues pertaining to gender and sex categories. Regardless of the sex you are born and assigned to it, everybody has the right to choose their gender!

I'm Maju Biology major Sociology minor From Brazil
Emely is a rising junior at The University of Tampa. She studies advertising and PR with a focusing on digital marketing. When she isn't bumping to J Cole, Drake or Aventura she's reading up on anything astrological, or editing photos for her food IG. As a New York City native, she loves exploring the cities micro-neighborhoods for their cuisine, music, and fashion. If you want to know more about Emely, follow her on Instagram - @aemiliatertia - or Twitter - @ThatEmely