Sex
If you thought you would read further description about Abe Simpson’s experiences about having sex, good news! That’s not what we’re talking about!
What we are talking about, however, is the biological sex categories. Because intersex has its own set of questions and assumptions, and wanting to rehumanize intersex people, I will address that in a future topic. For now, there are four characteristics that determine a person’s unambiguous biological sex:
- Y chromosome presence/absence (because!… Sorry, bad dad joke there… let’s move on before this becomes even more awkward)
- Internal reproductive organs (for females, these are the ovaries, uterus, and vagina; for males, these are the prostate gland, vas deferens, bulbourethral gland)
- External sexual anatomy (for females, the breasts, vulva, clitoris; for males, the penis and scrotum)
- Endocrine systems that produce secondary sex characteristics (females have higher levels of estrogen than males, and males have higher levels of testosterone than females). YES. YOU READ RIGHT. MEN HAVE estrogen flowing through them, albeit in far lower amounts than women!
In short, as Preston points out, our interpretations of sex and sexed bodies might be socially constructed, but sex itself is not socially constructed. Easy, right?
Next, let’s tackle gender.
Philly Dad on the Run 