How many genders are there in humans

Or, a person may present themselves as androgynous or nonbinary. Gender expression and presentation involve aspects such as mannerisms, clothing styles, names, and pronoun choices, to name a few. A person who is agender does not identify with any particular gender, or they may have no gender at all.

A person who identifies as androgyne has a gender that is either both masculine and feminine or between masculine and feminine. A person who identifies as bigender has two genders. Women, especially lesbians, tend to use this term to describe the way they express masculinity, or what society defines as masculinity.

For example, a cisgender woman is someone who still identifies with the sex — female, in this case — a doctor assigned them at birth. Genderqueer can also refer to a person who identifies outside of how society defines gender or someone who identifies with a combination of genders. A person who uses this term is usually a lesbian or a trans person who leans more toward masculine performances and experiences of gender.

People who are nonbinary may also experience overlap with different gender expressions, such as being gender non-conforming. This is an umbrella term that encompasses all people who experience and identify with a different gender than that which their assigned sex at birth would suggest. Although most people think of trans men and trans women when hearing the word transgender, this term also encompasses people who identify as a gender other than man or woman, including nonbinary and genderfluid.

Two Spirit is an umbrella term that encompasses different sexualities and genders in Indigenous Native American communities. There are many different definitions of Two Spirit , and Indigenous Native American people may or may not use this term to describe their experiences and feelings of masculinity and femininity.

This is a cultural term that is reserved for those who identify as an Indigenous Native American. However, there are multiple websites and online communities that people can turn to for support.

These include:. It depends on how they identify as a person, and this can change over time. People can identify as more masculine, more feminine, a combination of both, or neither.

Essentially, this term is cis-normative, she points out. There's no pop quiz on these terms, we promise, but becoming familiar with all gender identities is part of being a thoughtful human, no matter where you fall on the gender spectrum. Weight Loss. United States. Type keyword s to search. Today's Top Stories. Taraji P. Accessible Beauty Products For All. John Lawson Getty Images. Genitalia does not equal gender.

The concept of gender really is a social construct, adds Golob. Forget about the two-gender binary. Our society has convinced us that there are just two options for gender identity, "male" and "female," based on biological sex.

Numerous types of intersex conditions exist, such as chromosomal, gonadic, hormonal, etc. It is in fact the extreme complexity of the mechanisms involved in determination of biological gender that inevitably causes wrong notes. This is why millions of individuals do not conform to the two gender types that characterize the immense majority of humans, namely the female type two X chromosomes, ovaries, anatomical features favoring pregnancy and fetal development, breasts, and so on and the male type one X and one Y chromosome, a penis and testicles, internal ducts for the transportation of urine and sperm, etc.

The diversity of forms of sexual development and the atypical types that occur are striking, whether of chromosomal, hormonal or environmental origin caused by chemical products that disturb the endocrine system or by drugs taken during pregnancy, for instance.

Furthermore, there is a strong risk of tumors gonadoblastomas developing in their gonads ovaries and testicles. In addition to these examples, there are many other intermediate phenotypes in which both male and female sexual characteristics coexist in the same individual. Thus, XX babies with congenital adrenal hyperplasia androgenic hyperproduction are born with female reproductive organs and masculinized external genitalia a hypertrophied clitoris resembling a small penis, fusion of the labia majora covering the vaginal entrance.

Whatever their origin, all of these anomalies show that intersex traits cover a vast range of biomedical conditions varying in frequency and severity, and that the precise number of different biological sexes among humans is in reality a complex issue. It is generally held that there are no simple answers to this question. Based on the sole criterion of production of reproductive cells, there are two and only two sexes: the female sex, capable of producing large gametes ovules , and the male sex, which produces small gametes spermatozoa.

However, this gonadic criterion based upon reproductive glands is not the only factor on which the definition of biological gender rests. We must also consider genetic sex based on X and Y chromosomes , anatomical based on the appearance of the genitalia , hormonal gender based on the predominant hormones , and so on. We may thus conclude that an infinite combination of biological genders exists So is there really a practically unlimited number of biological sexes?

March by the collective Existrans—which advocates for the rights of transgender and intersex people—in Paris on the 17 October In other words, the different levels of biological sex do not all fall into place at the same point in life. But why has biology taken all this time to finally recognize that the existence of multiple sexes is normal?

Until recently, the overarching assumption was that babies are born as girls because they do not possess certain male genes, and that the Y chromosome play a crucial role in sex determination. Indeed, the genetic processes involved in female development have been the subject of increasing numbers of studies, and biology, now less androcentric, recognizes multiple levels of gradation between the typical female form and the typical male form.

However, many observers continue to view intersex as an error in nature, and even a pathological monstrosity.