Understanding Gender

	Gender Quick Facts
Internal Model: A person's own sense of sex.
History: Documented for over 4,500 years.
Basis: Congenital and biological.
Distribution: Bimodal, not binary.

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Gender is the internal mental model of a person's own sex. While the word “gender” simply means “type” in its Latin roots, it is a complex, esoteric concept that captures a spectrum of human experience. +2

Contrary to simplified “health class” narratives, human sex and gender are not a binary, but a bimodal distribution. Most individuals fall into one of two major groups, but a significant portion of the population naturally exists outside of these clusters. +1

Gender is established during gestation, specifically while the cerebral cortex is forming—generally between weeks 14 and 24 of pregnancy. Present evidence suggests that a person's gender is congenital and locked in before birth. +3

To understand gender, we must distinguish it from other biological markers:

Genotype: The genetically defined chromosomal karyotype (e.g., XX, XY, XXY, etc.).

Phenotype: The observable sexual characteristics like genitals, bone structure, and fat distribution.

Gender: The subconscious internal sense of identity.

Sexual Orientation: Who you are attracted to; this is separate from gender identity.

Gender-variant people are not a modern phenomenon; the current understanding has simply been “sidelined” or suppressed by colonialism and various regimes. +2

4,500 years ago: The Gala existed as a middle-gender priest class in the Sumerian Empire.

Pre-Colonialism: Indigenous North American cultures recognized third genders long before European contact.

218 AD: Roman Emperor Elagabalus requested to be addressed as a “Lady” rather than a “Lord”. +1

Early 1900s: Magnus Hirschfield was documenting third genders and transition in Germany before his research was destroyed by the Nazi party in 1933. +1

Badgley, J., et al. (2021). The Gender Dysphoria Bible. Originally published at genderdysphoria.fyi. +2