The Nature of Sex and Gender: Why Sex is Binary and Gender is a Mess

Join us in Zimmer 400 on 3/26 at 7 PM to hear Dr. Tomas Bogardus (PhD, UT-Austin) talk about the topic of gender! This is a FREE event and is open to the public.

There has been a lot of controversy recently involving words like “gender,” “sex,” “male,” “female,” “man,” and “woman.” This talk will provide some clarity by explaining the competing definitions of these terms. We will see how the word “gender” has several different meanings, which makes it difficult to have clear, productive conversations on these issues. We’ll also consider reasons in favor of the traditional understandings of terms like “man” and “male,” according to which men are adult human males, and biological sex is defined in terms of gamete production. Finally, we’ll consider why these issues matter so much to our culture, as well as whether sex is binary, and whether sex change is theoretically possible.