Statement on Sex and Gender

Statement on Sex and Gender

Many people use sex and gender interchangeably, but in truth, they’re distinct concepts.  Sex is a classification based on biological characteristics, including DNA and anatomy.  Gender refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviors, expressions, and identities of girls, women, boys, men, and gender diverse people. Yet just as gender isn’t binary, our biology isn’t binary. It, too, exists on a spectrum. In fact, many people’s bodies possess a combination of physical characteristics typically thought of as “male” or “female.” It’s been estimated that babies with intersex traits account for up to 2% of live births (Am. J. Hum. Biol. 12:151–166, 2000). Sex is often included as a binary and categorical variable in the publically available dataframes included in this book. This may change as new data sets become available over time.

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