From: Samantha Atkins (samantha@objectent.com)
Date: Thu Jul 18 2002 - 01:38:49 MDT
natashavita@earthlink.net wrote:
> From: Samantha Atkins
>
> natashavita@earthlink.net wrote:
>
>
>>>However fuzzy it is becoming, our species is currently distinguished by
>>>genders (. Being anti-sex would be against not just both genders, but
>>
> any
>
>>>gender.
>>Being asexual or sexual
>
> in various ways says little or nothing about what gender[s] (if
> any) one sees oneself as. To over-simplify, sex is about who
> one goes to bed with (or if one does), gender is about how one
> sees oneself - who one goes to bed as.<
>
> Not necessarily. Being asexual or sexual has to do with an interest or
> proclivity for sexual activity. Being sexual also has to do with your
> gender identification and differentiation. Sex has to do with "behavioral,
> cultural, or psychological traits typically associated with one sex."
> Further, what sex are you has to do with your genitals; and what sex are
> you can have to do with what you want to be - male or female. In today's
> redefintion of words, it's best to clarify what one means by sex, sexual,
> etc.
>
Well, I did say I was over-simplifying. :-)
But using one word, sex, to mean sexual activity, sexual
orientation, physical sexual characteristics, gender identity,
behavioral, cultural, psychological traits is clearly massively
overloading the word. The common usage today among specialists
in these areas seems to be to distinquish at least three things
that interact: physical sex; sexuality and sexual behavior;
gender identity,behavior, and roles. It is quite possible that
these things are in various quite different relationships to one
another. Each of them is also quite able to be further
subdivided, questioned and examined of course. The lines between
them can get a bit tangled. For example, my gender identity has
remained pretty invariant throughout my life while my birth sex
characteristics been reassiged, fundamental gender presentation
and my gender roles have changed and my sexuality has been
somewhat fluid at all stages. You might say I have experienced
a smorgasboard of sexual/gender configurations. :) Yet there
seems to me to be some fundamental settings I refer to as gender
identity that have remained invariant throughout my life.
- samantha
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