The Terms You Need to Understand
What’s the difference between sex and gender?
Sex and gender are terms that are often used interchangeably. To some, sex and gender are the same but to others there is a difference.
The World Health Organisation Regional Office for Europe describes sex as characteristics that are biologically defined, while gender is based on socially constructed features. They recognise that there are variations in how people experience gender based upon self-perception and expression, and how they behave.
The government uses the Office for National Statistics (ONS) definition of sex as:
- Referring to the biological aspects of an individual as determined by their anatomy, which is produced by their chromosomes, hormones and their interactions
- Generally male or female
- Something that is assigned at birth.
The ONS defines gender as:
- A social construction relating to behaviours and attributes based on labels of masculinity and femininity; gender identity is a personal, internal perception of oneself and so the gender category someone identifies with may not match the sex they were assigned at birth.
- Where an individual may see themselves as a man, a woman, as having no gender, or as having a non-binary gender – where people identify as somewhere on a spectrum between man and woman.
Trans – an umbrella term to describe people whose gender is different from their birth sex
Trans woman – a person who was born male but identifies and lives as a woman
Trans man – a person who was born female but identifies and lives as a man
Non-binary – an umbrella term for people whose gender identity does not fit with that of a man or woman
Gender fluid – a term to describe someone whose gender identity is not fixed
Gender dysphoria – a term used to describe a sense of unease that a person may have because of a mismatch between their biological sex and their gender identity
Gender identity – a term used to describe a person’s innate sense of their own gender, whether male, female or something else which may or may not correspond with their biological sex
Gender critical – the belief that sex is immutable and can’t be changed
Legal sex – sex recorded on someone’s birth certificate
Gender recognition certificate – a certificate that legally changes sex
Deadnaming – a term for when someone refers to a trans person by the name they had before transitioning