How many genders are there?
Traditionally, most people have thought of themselves and others as male or female. But in recent years, increased focus on and understanding of gender, equality and sexuality has added more and more gender identities to the list.
Most people are born with two sex chromosomes - two X chromosomes or one X chromosome and one Y chromosome.
Two X chromosomes initiate the development of female genitalia, while an X and a Y chromosome initiate the development of male genitalia. The genitals later begin to produce hormones, which we typically call male and female sex hormones – testosterone for men and estrogen for women.
But the scientific picture of gender is not quite so simple. Firstly, some people are born with multiple sex chromosomes and other combinations, eg XXY, XYY or XXYY.
Some people are also born with variations on the sex chromosomes, and this can lead to special biological sex characteristics. An example is Turner's Syndrome, where one of the two X chromosomes is completely or partially missing.
This mutation can i.a. lead to low height, a broad chest and reduced function of the ovaries, which can lead to a lack of menstruation and the development of breasts and pubic hair.
For most people, nature aligns with self-awareness – they feel like the gender biology says they are. But gender identity is not just biology, it is also a set of norms for how people behave and think about each other.
In English, the two words 'sex' and 'gender' describe two different parts of what in Danish we only have the word 'gender' for, namely the biological or gender assigned at birth and then the gender a person feels like and identifies with join in.
As we gain a better understanding of how differently people experience their gender identity, the list of genders you can identify with grows.
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