Gender Identity and Leadership
Danielle Laraque-Arena, Lauren J. Germain, Virginia Young, Rivers Laraque-Ho in Leadership at the Intersection of Gender and Race in Healthcare and Science, 2022
Let's zoom in to the DNA level, where information encoded in the human chromosome lays the blueprints for our bodies. Chromosomes aren't a significant part of discourse outside of classroom and clinical research contexts, with the notable exception of the “sex chromosome,” known for its role in sexual differentiation. Its catchy designations (male = XY, female = XX) have made it into the cultural lexicon, appearing in media and in conversation as gender shorthand. But the sex chromosome's role is both oversimplified and overblown, as Molly Webster explains in her 2019 TED talk.5 To start with, humans come in more varieties than just XX and XY, and with variant expressions of sex characteristics. These deviations from normative biological sex may be apparent at birth, if externally visible (e.g., atypical genitalia), or their internal workings may remain hidden for years. Webster (2019) reminds us of what happened to María José Martínez-Patiño, an Olympic athlete who failed sex verification testing in 1985 when her chromosome results came up XY. Her scholarship was revoked, her career cut short, her victories erased from the record, and her reputation and personal life destroyed. Even her friends and her fiancé stopped speaking to her (Martínez-Patiño, 2005).
Aicardi Syndrome and Klinefelter Syndrome
Dongyou Liu in Handbook of Tumor Syndromes, 2020
Klinefelter syndrome, first reported by Klinefelter et al. in 1942, is a common genetic disorder that occurs in males with an extra X chromosome (XXY) instead of the usual male sex karyotype (XY). Clinically, Klinefelter syndrome is characterized by small testes (that do not produce as much testosterone as usual), delayed or incomplete puberty, gynecomastia (breast enlargement), sparse facial and body hair, azoospermia (inability to produce sperm), infertility, cryptorchidism (undescended testes), hypospadias (the opening of the urethra on the underside of the penis), micropenis (unusually small penis), tall stature, and increased risk for extragonadal germ cell tumor (GCT), breast cancer, and systemic lupus erythematosus (Table 2.1). Cytogenetically, 90% of Klinefelter syndrome patients possess non-mosaic 47,XXY karyotype (due to the aneuploidy of the sex chromosomes), 7% are mosaic (e.g., 47,XXY/46,XY), and 3% have variant (e.g., 48,XXXY or 48,XXYY) and structurally abnormal X chromosome (e.g., 47,iXq,Y) [3].
Genetic Principles
Gail S. Anderson in Biological Influences on Criminal Behavior, 2019
Just like every other plant and animal, humans carry their genetic material in their chromosomes, which are found in the nucleus of every cell in the body. Each chromosome consists of strings of genes. The human species has 46 chromosomes (other species have different numbers) in 23 pairs. Twenty-two of the pairs are the somatic chromosomes, and one pair is the sex chromosomes. Everyone therefore has two chromosome 1s, two chromosome 2s, and so on, and a pair of the sex chromosomes. The sex chromosomes are noted as XX if you are female and XY if you are male. Each member of a pair of chromosomes has the same genes, in the same order, as the other member of the pair, so we call them matching, or homologous, pairs. Every one of these chromosome pairs is found in nearly every single cell in the body (exceptions include the red blood cells, which do not have a nucleus). Every chromosome consists of strings of genes made of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), and they code for life. They are our blueprint, and they affect just about everything about us.
Towards a trans inclusive practice: thinking difference differently
Published in Sexual and Relationship Therapy, 2023
Sarah Ellis, John Reilly-Dixon
Firstly, no one is denying the material, biological and empirical reality of reproductive sex. That is the easy part. However, a person’s sex is composed of multiple variables. Hormones (progesterone, testosterone, oestrogen) and their relevant receptors in the tissues. Chromosomal genetic material, reproductive organs, genitalia, and secondary sexual characteristics. Each of which influences the other across the bio-physiological and anatomical levels. For sex (or any system) to be binary there must be two, and only two outcomes from it. Most people who subscribe to the binary idea point to the anatomical level of penis/vulva as definitive here. And yet—those structures are effects of some or all the other variables, and since not every penis or vulva are identical then variance (as difference) exists here too. What about chromosomes, XX/XY? This again is not definitive since there are people who have variations in this area, and more over the possible variations within the chromosomal systems do not exhibit definitive linear correlation relationships with any given endocrinological or anatomical outcomes (Ainsworth, 2015, Serano, 2022). So, given all the above, is sex a binary?
“They Were Talking to an Idea They Had About Me”: A Qualitative Analysis of Transgender Individuals’ Experiences Using Dating Apps
Published in The Journal of Sex Research, 2023
Daniel A. Griffiths, Heather L. Armstrong
However, transgender individuals’ mere existence challenges pervasive cissexist norms – the unconscious and automatic belief that all individuals identify with the gender assigned to them at birth and that this is normal (McGeorge et al., 2021). Additionally, cissexist norms rely upon binary and bio-essentialist conceptualizations of gender. These norms suggest that all individuals with a penis and XY chromosomes identify as male, and all individuals with a vulva and XX chromosomes identify as female, and there is little to no room to accommodate other identities (Barcelos, 2019; Jun, 2018). These cissexist notions of gender and limited gendered app affordances may impact how transgender individuals interact with apps and disclose transgender status and how other users perceive them. Online spaces may allow those who are not out to express their gender and/or sexual minority status to receive social support and validation of their identity (Selkie et al., 2020). However, transgender individuals have reported feeling that their gender was not respected, both by the app itself and other users (Callander et al., 2019). Open disclosure of transgender status may create tension between the desire to present one’s identity authentically and possible experiences of fetishization and risks to safety.
“The Slovenian Word For These People is ‘Degenerates’!”: Examining Negative Attitudes Toward Non-normative Sexual and Gender Identities in Slovenian Online Comments
Published in Journal of Homosexuality, 2023
This shows that in the hegemonic social system the only allowed categories are those of “woman” and “man,” who are the only ones that can produce a normal “heterosexual relationship.” Therefore it is not surprising that some of the commenters deny the existence of certain LGBTQIA+ identities, such as lesbians, who can only exist because “No man wanted her … .” Similar is the denial of trans* identities (11, 12). (11) »The problem begins when a man and a man dressed as a woman want to be equal to actual women and men. They can try as much as they want but they can never be the same as an actual woman or man. There’s the problem. They can’t make a child but they want to adopt it. They can’t. They are not the same.«12(12) »Non-binary persons? If we look at them physically they have female genitals, if we look at them genetically they have XX chromosomes. Therefore they are women.«13
Related Knowledge Centers
- Heterogametic Sex
- Sex
- Sex Chromosome
- X Chromosome
- Xx Male Syndrome
- Klinefelter Syndrome
- Sex-Determination System
- Xy Gonadal Dysgenesis
- Xx Male Syndrome
- Sex-Determining Region Y Protein
- Zw Sex-Determination System