Forty-three percent (43%) of people (36% of women and 51% of men) still believe that sex organs determine gender, compared to only 35% (42% of women and 26% of men) who believe they do not. This is according to Adameve.com, which asked over 1,000 adults if they felt that the sex organs we’re born with determine our gender.
Twenty-two percent of those who were polled (21% of the women and 23% of the men) said they were not sure.
According to Adam & Eve’s resident sexologist Dr. Jenni Skyler, on whether sex organs determine gender, the answer is “yes and no”.
“Many people are born with a set of genitals that match how they feel as male or female. For a long time, our understanding of gender has been binary. We know male and female to have a particular gender description, along with certain roles and expressions. Yet, gender is not entirely about nature and sex organs,” Skyler said.
This is particularly true to transgender people, who often feel their sex organs do not reflect their gender. Meanwhile, intersex persons may have atypical sex organs and potentially feel more ambiguous about their gender and gender expression.
“Because gender is a social construct, our society has evolved to allow for more people to sink into their body and feel the nuances of what their gender really feels like, even if it doesn’t fit into a typical binary box of male and female,” Skyler said. “Because we have the social permission to expand gender into a spectrum of various descriptors, many people are able to break away from the typical male-female boxes and allow themselves to feel and express themselves in a more unique gendered manner.”
