Category Of Sex Research Articles

Intersexuality and Transgender Identity as a "Problem" of Participation in Sports Competitions

Amidst a global landscape where transgender individuals face unprecedented challenges in accessing equitable sexual health care, our review breaks new ground by exploring the intricacies of sexual health within the transgender community. Unveiling the critical gaps in current health care practices, our research not only amplifies the voices of those often marginalised in health narratives but also pioneers a comprehensive, culturally sensitive approach to transgender sexual health. The literature review tries to find medical and subsequent legal justifications for PRO and CONS of participation of transgender and intersex athletes in the category of the opposite sex. It tries to analyse which differences in life can be relevant in defining competitive advantages, which nowadays lead to very controversial, often politically motivated conclusions. The opinions of the professional and sports public do not go along with some decisions of sports associations and authorities. It therefore also deals with the recent decision of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Caster Semenya, as well as the participation of athletes across different sports disciplines and categories. It does not ignore the question of the adequacy of anti-discrimination measures. Furthermore, it evaluates the impact of such participation on the integrity and fairness of competitive sports, highlighting the need for a balanced approach that respects the rights of all athletes. This study stands at the forefront of transforming sexual health care for transgender individuals worldwide.

Denaturalizzare il sesso. Nicole-Claude Mathieu e l’analisi antropologica delle classi di sesso

This essay presents some of the main contributions of Nicole-Claude Mathieu’s work to anthropology and feminist theory. The first section is devoted to framing Mathieu’s production within French materialist feminism. The ethnologist repeatedly recalls how the forms of oppression experienced by women as a minority group in social relations of sex and the struggles that ensue underlie the epistemological transformations that invest disciplinary knowledge from a feminist perspective. Next, the article addresses the three different ways of conceptualising the relationship between sex and gender and the introduction of the category of social sex to denaturalize sex, understood as a political category. Its analysis is thus compared with some of the contributions of decolonial feminism regarding the category of gender. Just as in her study of the category of sex, we also find in the analysis of androcentrism in anthropology her ability to question the dominant frameworks of ethnological thought. In particular, Mathieu delves into the relationship between androcentrism, ethnocentrism, and naturalism to understand not only how they operate distortions in the production of ethnographic and ethnological knowledge, but also how they define the framework within which to define the relationship between Western “us” and non-Western “others” in reference to social relations of sex.

The Perils of Gender Self-Determination: Global Shifts in Sex Reclassification Law and Policy

Abstract The Article maps the global rise of the emerging gold standard for recognition and protection of trans populations: laws and policies allowing for self-identification of gender identity, commonly referred to as “gender self-determination.” The Article suggests that, while gender self-determination allows for greater access to resources and opportunities for transgender people because it removes grave breach to bodily autonomy, it also formulates “gender identity” as a private entity of the self, separated from publicly assigned sex. Thus, gender self-determination inevitably redraws the public–private divide along the contours of the transgender body, suggesting a need to examine the apparatus of assigning sex at birth and its pivotal role in both the systemic exclusions of trans people and gender inequality more broadly. To make this case, the Article provides a comparative review and analysis of laws and policies allowing for sex reclassification on identity documents from over a hundred jurisdictions worldwide, from a complete ban on classification, through medical and corroborations requirements, to gender self-identification. The Article demonstrates a shift within sex reclassification policies from the body to the self, from external to internal truth, revealing a growing emphasis on the separation of gender identity from sex in legal analysis, pointing to its possible detrimental effects on questions of sex-based equality. To secure the autonomy of the trans legal subject, self-determination laws and policies formulate gender identity as an inherent and internal feature of the self. Yet, the sovereignty of a right to gender identity is circumscribed by the system of sex classification and its individuating logics, in which one must be stamped with a sex classification to be an autonomous legal subject. Finally, the Article argues that addressing the distribution of life prospects along gender lines requires going back to the category of sex and critically rethinking its fundamental differentiating structures.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Surgical Services in Brazil's Healthcare System: A Retrospective Cross-Sectional Study.

Background The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic provoked disruptions in healthcare delivery, leading to the cancellation and postponement of various health services, including surgery. Numerous countries closed their borders and established laws mandating the use of face masks and social distancing and enforced lockdowns, and various activities were constrained. Brazil, the largest and most populous country in Latin America, also experienced a rapid and sustained surge in infections and deaths. Brazil was the most severely impacted nation in Latin America. The impact of the pandemic on surgical services in Brazil has not been adequately studied since most studies only cover the early phases of the pandemic. Thus, this study aimed to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on surgical services throughout the entire period. Methods A retrospective cross-sectional design was used to examine surgical cases from 2019 to 2022 and compared the following indicators: (1) number of hospital admissions, (2) length of hospital stay (LOS) (in days), and (3)volume of urgent and elective procedures. Data was divided into four time periods, pre-pandemic (March-December 2019), pandemic (March-December 2020), recovery (March-December 2021), and post-pandemic (March-December 2022), and was analyzed for the number of admissions and LOS based on surgical procedures performed by stratifying according to region, sex, age, and type of surgery (urgent versus elective). Results The number of admissions for surgical procedures ranged between 859,646and 4,015,624for 2019, 686,616and 3,419,234for 2020,787,791and 3,829,019for 2021, and760,512and 3,857,817for 2022 for the category of region; 4,260,900and 5,991,775for 2019, 3,594,117and 4,984,710for 2020,4,182,640 and 5,590,808for 2021, and4,077,651 and5,561,928for 2022 for the category of sex; and 2,170,288 and 3,186,117 for 2019, 1,516,830and2,825,189for 2020,1,748,202and3,030,272for 2021, and1,900,023and2,859,179for 2022 for the category of age.The variable age showed a comparable trend, albeit with an expressive decline for surgeries in the age range of 0-19 years. The LOS (in days)for surgical procedures ranged between110,157 and 910,846for 2019,58,562 and897,734for 2020,67,926 and904,137for 2021, and100,467and823,545for 2022. Thoracic surgery indicated no statistically significant difference in the number of admissions and LOS.Elective surgeries had a decline in the number of admissions and LOS, a 13% and 9.3% decline between 2019 and 2020, respectively. Urgent surgeries experienced a slight decrease in admissions and LOS, with a decline of 2.4% and 2.8% between 2019 and 2020, respectively. Conclusions Population characteristics, such as age, sex, and region, showed decreased hospital admissions during the pandemic, followed by a recovery towardpre-pandemic levels afterward. The number of surgical admissions and the length of hospital stays decreased during the pandemic but gradually returned to pre-pandemic levels in the recovery and post-pandemic phases. Notably, thoracic surgery remained statistically consistent across all periods, indicating its emergency nature compared to other surgeries. Thus, we conclude that the pandemic had minimal impact on thoracic surgery cases, contributing to a stable trend.

Do you have to have sex to have sex? Defining sex in British law and medicine from the 1950s

Sex has at least two different but related meanings: a biological property that bodies can seemingly ‘have’, and a set of bodily practices that one or more people can ‘have’. In the 1950s, the endocrinologist CN Armstrong stated that biomedical evidence of sex variance and the lack of a clear legal definition of sex highlighted a problem with the criminalisation of homosexual activity. It was not until the 1970s that a clear category of legal sex was enacted in law. In this paper, we consider the Wolfenden Committee (1954–57) and the legal cases of Georgina Somerset and April Ashley (1969–70). As we demonstrate, despite the complexity revealed by biomedicine, the law has not struggled to enact binary categories, due to the normative force of binary and heteronormative social understandings of sex (in all its meanings). We conclude by reflecting upon the many queer ways that people have and do sex outside of the purview of legal or medical definitions.

Adapting an organ-on-chip device to study the effect of fetal sex and maternal race/ethnicity on preterm birth related intraamniotic inflammation leading to fetal neuroinflammation.

Fetal neuroinflammation has been linked to preterm birth-related intraamniotic infection and inflammation; However, the contribution of fetal sex and maternal race/ethnicity is unknown. To determine if fetal sex and maternal race/ethnicity influence neuroinflammation, an organ-on-chip (OOC) model were established under normal or pathologic conditions utilizing amniotic fluid. OOC is composed of two-cell culture chambers connected by Type IV collagen-coated microchannels. Human fetal astroglia (SVGp12) and microglia (HMC3) were co-cultured at an 80:20 ratio in the inner chamber. The outer chamber contained amniotic fluid (AF) from male and female fetuses of White Hispanic (WH) and African-American (AA) pregnant women with or without lipopolysaccharide (LPS-100ng/ml) and incubated for 48h. Glial migration (brightfield microscopy), activation (Immunocytochemistry), and cytokine production (Luminex assays) were quantified and compared (N=4 for each category of sex and race/ethnicity). In a pooled analysis, AF+LPS did not induce glial activation or inflammatory changes compared to AF alone. When stratified by sex, male AF+LPS promoted significant glial activation (high CD11b:p<0.05; low Iba1:p<0.01) compared to male AF without LPS; however, this was not associated with changes in pro-inflammatory cytokines. When stratified by race/ethnicity, AF+LPS induced glial activation in both groups, but a differential increase in pro-inflammatory cytokines was seen between WH and AA AF (WH-interleukin-1β: p<0.05; AA-interleukin-8: p<0.01). This OOC model of fetal neuroinflammation has determined that race/ethnicity differences do exist for perinatal brain injury. The fetal sex of neonates was not a determining factor of susceptibility to intraamniotic inflammation leading to neuroinflammation.

Trans Women Are (or Are Becoming) Female: Disputing the Endogeneity Constraint

AbstractThe dispute between the transgender-rights movement and “gender-critical” activists represents a stark division in British public discourse. Although the issues of contention are numerous and require their own philosophical treatment, a core metaphysical concern underlies them. Gender-critical activists, such as Kathleen Stock, tend to argue that recognizing trans women as women requires erasing the category of biological sex. This implies that all trans women are male, and thus recognizing them as women rips female biology from the root of the category “woman.” In this article, I argue that this view is mistaken. As exogenously produced sex characteristics should count toward a person's sex classification, all trans women are (or are becoming) female.

Demarginalizing the intersection of caste, class, and sex

This article examines two decisions of the Supreme Court of India: Vishaka v. State of Rajasthan, which formulated a set of directives for the prevention of sexual harassment of women at workplaces; and the National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India, which recognized “third gender” persons and directed the state to provide them with affirmative action. Within a wider application of human rights and fundamental rights that are guaranteed in the Constitution of India, both these court decisions relied on a nondiscrimination category of sex. This article recovers the underpinnings of caste and class that are latent, obscure, and omitted in these decisions. The conceptual framework of “intersectionality” is useful in making this recovery, and for showing the application of intersectional approaches toward more transformative formulations of law reform and judicial outcomes.

On the Category of Sex and Grammatical Gender in the Polish Language

The article is concerned with the selected aspects of the relation between sex and gender in the Polish language. The starting point for the discussion is the notion of sex – formed on the basis of the existing (and visible) biological differences in the world of humans and animals, grounded (and reproduced) in culture (i.e. the notion of gender). The aim of the discussion is to realize how these notions are encoded in the Polish language.It has been assumed that the category of biological sex underlies the linguistic category of gender understood, however, broadly, i.e. as a set of heterogenous linguistic forms interrelated by the common content, i.e. the meaning of sex/gender. The description of the category understood this way requires a holistic view of language as a tool for expressing thoughts (relative to its various levels, including the context of use) and also using the procedure “from meaning to form”.In the article, the author presents different types of markers of masculinity and femininity in the Polish language, i.e. lexical, morphological (inflexional and word-formative), textual, and contextual. It has been determined that in the case of concrete instances of language use, one deals with various combinations of the above mentioned indicators.

Age-Sex Related in Hematological Values of Sandalwood Pony Horses (Equus caballus) in East Sumba, NTT

Normal hematological values need to be defined for each category of horse, like age and sex to obtain precise diagnostic results. No published data on hematology exist for Sandalwood horses that are extensively reared in East Sumba, NTT. The main objective of this research was to compare the hematological characteristic of horse group based on age and sex. Blood samples from sixteen horses were collected based on sex into male (n=6), female (n=10) and age groups of 2-3 years (n=4) and 6-10 years old (n=12). About 3 ml of blood sample was collected aseptically from jugular vein of each of these animals in sterile vacutainer tube. The following variables were measured: erythrocyte, leucocyte, platelet, hemoglobin (Hb), hematocrit (HCT), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) and mean platelet volume (MPV). These hematological parameters were calculated with the automatic hematology analyzer at Health Laboratory in Kupang, NTT. This result was analyzed by using student T-test and analysis of variance. These results would contribute to better understanding of the hematological indicators for estimating the physiological status of Sandalwood horse in East Sumba as it can be used as valuable information of its health physiological status.

Sustainable workforce: South African Audiologists and Speech Therapists

BackgroundAudiologists and Speech Therapists play a vital role in addressing sustainable development goals by supporting people who are marginalised due to communication challenges. The global burden of disease and poor social living conditions impact negatively on the development of healthy communication, therefore requiring the services of Audiologist and Speech therapists. Against this background, we examined the demographic profile and the supply, need and shortfall of Audiologists and Speech Therapists in South Africa.MethodsThe data set was drawn from the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) registers (for 2002–2017) for the speech, language and hearing professions. This demographic profile of the professions was created based on the category of health personnel; category of practice, geographical location, population group (race) and sex. The annual supply was estimated from the HPCSA database while the service–target approach was used to estimate need. Additional need based on National Health Insurance Bill was also included. Supply–need gaps were forecast according to three scenarios, which varied according to the future intensity of policy intervention to increase occupancy of training places: ‘best guess’ (no intervention), ‘optimistic’ (feasible intervention), and ‘aspirational’ (significant intervention) scenarios up to 2030.ResultsMost (i.e. 1548, 47.4%) of the professionals are registered as Audiologists and Speech Therapists, followed by 33.5% registered as Speech Therapists and 19.1% registered as Audiologists. Around 88.5% professionals registered as Audiologists and Speech Therapists are practising independently, and 42.6% are practising in the Gauteng province. The profession is comprised majorly of women (94.6%), and in terms of the population groups (race), they are mainly classified as white (59.7%). In 2017, in best guess scenario, there is a supply–need gap of around 2800 professionals. In the absence of any intervention to increase supply capacity, this shortfall will remain same by the year 2030. By contrast, in aspirational scenario, i.e. supply is increased by 300%, the forecasted shortfall for 2030 reduces to 2300 from 2800 professionals.ConclusionsIt is clear that without significant interventions, South Africa is likely to have a critical shortfall of Audiologists and Speech Therapists in 2030. Policy-makers will have to carefully examine issues surrounding the current framework regulating training of these and associated professionals, in order to respond adequately to future requirements.

Cross-Generational Abuse

This article analyzes the influence of confessional manuals on Catholic priests who solicited sexual favors from parishioners during confession throughout colonial New Spain. It proposes that we think about centuries of sexual encounters between priests and parishioners through the concept of cross-generational abuse, which describes intersecting forms of priestly exploitation based on chronological age differentials, allegorical power relations based on the rhetoric of spiritual kinship, and priests’ own abilities to profess redemption years after conviction and thereby regain positions of authority over parishioners. The plurality of these forms of abuse move beyond the usual associations of cross-generational sex solely with the question of age. It opens up the category of cross-generational sex and enlarges its potential to be a topic for historical reflection.

Socijalne veštine kod odraslih osoba s oštećenjem vida

The research aim is to establish the level of acquisition of social skills in persons with visual impairment in relation to age, sex, category and time of visual impairment occurrence. The research included 131 participants with visual impairment (62.6% blind and 37.4% with low vision), both male and female, between 19 and 60 years old. In the assessment of social skills the subtest Social Skills, which belongs to the Adaptive Behavior Assessment System, was applied. The result analysis has established that the achievements of the majority of the participants with visual impairment belong to the category of the average. No significant relation was established between social skills and the age of the participants and the time of visual impairment occurrence, whereas the relation with the category of visual impairment and sex is statistically significant. Future research should be directed at the level of social support to persons with visual impairment for the purpose of creating more efficient support programs in the community.

Combined effect of weight gain within normal weight range and parental hypertension on the prevalence of hypertension; from the J-MICC Study.

The aim of this study is to show the combined effect of weight gain within normal weight range in adulthood and parental HT on the prevalence of HT. The study subjects were 44,998 individuals (19,039 men and 25,959 women) with normal weight (body mass index [BMI] 18.5-24.9) aged 35-69 years who participated in the Japan Multi-Institutional Collaborative Cohort (J-MICC) Study. They were categorized into six groups by weight gain from age 20 years (<10 kg, and ≥10 kg) and by the number of parents having HT (no parent, one parent, and both parents). Odds ratios for HT were estimated after adjustment for age, sex, current BMI, estimated daily sodium intake, and other confounding factors. The prevalence of HT (31.5% in total subjects) gradually increased with greater weight gain from age 20 years and with greater number of parents with HT. Subjects who gained weight ≥10 kg and having both parents with HT showed the highest risk of having HT compared with those who gained weight <10 kg without parental HT (59.8% vs. 24.9%, odds ratio 4.25, 95% CI 3.53-5.13 after adjustment). This association was similarly observed in any category of age, sex, and BMI. Subjects who gained weight within normal range of BMI and having one or both parent(s) with HT showed the higher risk of having HT independent of their attained BMI in their middle ages. Thus, subjects having parent(s) with HT should avoid gaining their weight during adulthood, even within normal range of BMI, to reduce the risk of having HT.

A Comparitive Analysis of Homosexuality Laws in South Asia

The old perception of marriage was that it consisted of a “bread winner (the husband)” and a “home maker (the wife)” but this perception changed when women started working and became “bread winners” along with their male counterparts. Even a few husbands decided to become “homemakers”. The question that arose in same-sex marriage was who was to be the “bread winner” and who was to be the “homemaker”? It is because of such questions posed by society that gay people do not get married. In an article, that was published a few months ago, it talked about two lesbians who lived together but they never let anyone know that they were lesbians. The society thought that they were sisters and the two never said anything about it. Societal pressure is a reason why same-sex marriages do not occur. Religion still has a profound influence in the Indian psyche. In both the Dharmic and Abrahamic traditions, the role of sexual intercourse is that of procreation and thus fulfilling the will of God. The Indian public and many of its public figures still have an unfavorable opinion on the nature of sexual acts between homosexuals, it is also important to note that the legal framework of India, the law of the land, does not guarantee the rights of all citizens regardless of their sexual orientation, non penile-vaginal intercourse is yet to be legalized. The way the society thinks should change but that may take a while which was shown in the judgment of Suresh Kumar Koushal and Anr. v. Naz Foundation and Ors. Homosexuality has been frowned upon in India for much of its history, and violence against homosexuals is not uncommon. Until recently, such persons would not publicly admit to their sexual orientation. Article 15(1) of the Indian Constitution provides for Prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth. The expression ‘discriminate against’ in Article 15(1), according to the Oxford Dictionary, means “to make an adverse distinction with regard to; to distinguish unfavorably from others”. Discrimination includes a component of prejudice and it is in that sense that the expression has to be understood. Article 15 (1) has a closed list of five specified grounds: religion, race, caste, sex and place of birth. The category of sex includes sexual orientation which was declared in the Suresh Kumar Koushal and Anr. v. NAZ Foundation and Ors. judgment. The Supreme Court held that “the underlying purpose against sex discrimination is to prevent differential treatment for the reasons of non conformity with normal or natural sexual or gender roles. Sex relations are intricately tied to gender stereotypes. Accordingly discrimination on the ground of sex necessarily includes discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Like gender discrimination, discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is directed against an immutable and core characteristic of human personality.” Thus, the Supreme Court does not criminalize a particular identity under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code but it criminalizes certain acts and this paper will deal with this intricate and pertinent issue while also taking reference from other South Asian countries like Bhutan and Nepal.

How to reduce osteopenia in total knee arthroplasty?

Osteopenia of the front half of the distal femur is a well-known problem after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) with secondary issues after years, especially when must be addressed fractures or revisions for loosening. Stress shielding has been recognized as a cause in different biomechanical studies of the bone. It was logical to look for a solution by changing the design to minimize stress shielding behind the femoral shield. It was proved that radiological measure of bone density was reliable although not so early and accurate as densitometry. We used a shield without posterior fixation of the trochlea in a series of 21 TKA with radiological measures, preoperative, at 3months and at 5years. We compared the results with those of a series of classical TKA in the same category of age and sex. The TKA without trochlea posterior fixation presented a significantly reduced osteopenia compared to the classical design of the femoral shield. It seems that the non-fixation of the posterior surface of the trochlea may reduce osteopenia in TKA and so the risk of fractures and complications when revision surgery. 2a.

POLITISI PEREMPUAN DAN KORUPSI : MENCARI SOLUSI ATAS DILEMA POLITIK KESETARAAN GENDER DI ERA REFORMASI

Theoretically and empirically, the presence of women in politics is believed to reduce corruption behaviour. Unfortunately, in Indonesia, such essential categorization is not proven to reduce corrupt behavior considering that women can also be an executor, connoisseur, and even intermediaries of corrupt behavior. Women, as one category of sex, is not sufficient to analyze the role of women in corruption act, because woman is bounded by culture, religion, ethnicity and social class. Based on this background, this study attempts to find the root of the problem and the solution for woman politician in corruption act. By using electoral system theory and political party as theoretical analysis and literature study as the method, this study identifies that behavior of women corruptor cannot be separated from the power of elites in political parties and parliaments. The strong power of the oligarchic elite in political parties and parliaments itself is the result of an open proportional election system which has an impact on the high competitiveness of parties, so that led to high cost of political to be beared by women. Ultimately, to improve such conditions, the engineering of electoral and party systems is most likely to be a solution, as both are easy to intervene by state actors and civil society groups. In conclusion, this paper shows that political parties have to be responsible in promoting gender equality, and willing to review the quota and zipper system in relation to the proportional systems

HIV, HBV, HCV and syphilis infections among blood donors in Koforidua, 2016

Introduction : HIV, HBV, HCV and syphilis infections are common transfusion transmissible infections that require mandatory screening among blood donors. These infections among blood donors are of public health concern because of their prolonged viraemia. This study determined the prevalence of HIV, HBV, HCV and Syphilis infections; co-infections; and the associated factors among blood donors in Koforidua. Methods : a cross-sectional study was conducted at St Joseph hospital and the Regional Hospital in Koforidua. Blood donors were recruited and interviewed. Socio-demographic and behavioral factors of the blood donors were obtained after which 5ml of blood was drawn from each of them. The blood was tested for the infections using rapid test kits. Data was analyzed and categorical variables were presented as percentages. Bivariate analysis was done to determine associations and logistic regressions to identify significant variables. Results : a total of 426 blood donors were recruited. Majority (85.7%) were males. 59.1% had secondary education. The study found a 4.5% prevalence of HIV, 13.2% prevalence of HBV, 8.0% prevalence of HCV and a 15.3% prevalence of syphilis among blood donors in Koforidua. In total, 36.2% had at least one infection. Total coinfections were 2.4% and HBV- syphilis co infection was the most common, at 1.2%. Socio-demographic and behavioral factors found to be significantly associated with HIV, HBV, HCV and syphilis infections among blood donors in Koforidua were residence of the donor, religion, educational level, occupation, category of donor, sex and alcohol use (p Conclusion : the prevalence of HIV among blood donors in Koforidua was 4.47%. Hepatitis B and C prevalence were found to be 13.8% and 8.0% respectively among blood donors while syphilis prevalence was 15.29%. Prevalence of co-infections was 2.4% among blood donors in Koforidua and 36.2% of the donors had at least one of the infections.

The banishment of Isaac: Racial signifiers of gender performance

This article suggests that a performative reading of discrimination cases allows for the recognition of intersectional harms and facilitates a broader systemic account of exclusion from resources and opportunities. Revealing the protected category of sex as a prohibition against discrimination on the basis of gender performance, the article considers how signifiers marked on the gendered body shape the protected categories relating to race and ethnicity. The article suggests that racial/ethnic signifiers and sex/gender performance function reciprocally to construct material realities of exclusion from resources and opportunities. Drawing on the trans position in anti-discrimination, the article offers a nuanced reading of discrimination suffered by Jews of Arab decent, the Mizrahim, under Israeli law. It shows that courts could address systemic aspects of individual claims by looking for the intersecting differentiating logics at the root of private discrimination. The article argues that protected legal categories do not reflect pre-legal truths but, rather, constitute them; that when the law prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, it prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender performance and that gendered performance is always already marked by racial signifiers. Thus, by turning the legal gaze to the racial signifiers of gender performance, intersecting harm can be better accounted for.

Legal sex, self-classification and gender self-determination

ABSTRACTThis paper discusses legal sex in the context of transgender jurisprudence, reviewing arguments for individual agency, elective categories and ideas concerning or ‘self-sovereignty’. It is argued that legal sex has no explicit foundation in case law or statute, and that it was effectively brought into being by the decision in Corbett v Corbett (otherwise Ashley) [1971] P 83. In Corbett the judge could simply have ruled that the birth certificate was determinative unless refuted by medical testimony (ie a clear mistake on its face) – instead he embarked on ontological investigation of sexual identity. That decision, paradoxically, denied that there was a category of legal sex ‘at large’, and argued that it was primarily the law of marriage that reflected sex. In other legal domains, gender identity or psychological sex could be recognized. However Corbett was treated as setting out criteria for legal sex, this understood as grounded in bodily ontology or ‘sexed being’. Reviewing arguments for self-determination, self-classification or self-ownership in relation to sexual identity, the paper concludes that there is no way for law to capture the lived ontology of sexual identity or gender. It was Corbett that gave the impetus for this approach, and even now that Corbett has been rejected, various attempts were being made to create a fit between the ontological or experiential category and legal sex. This is in principle impossible, given the diversity of identity narratives that exists in society. Legal sex, if it is required at all, needs to be understood in non-essentialist terms.