LUNARDI ANTH-1020

Cultural Perspectives on Sex and Gender

Fabrizio Lunardi
SLCC

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Recently, the issue between sex and gender has been magnified by events such as those in
North Carolina regarding the transgender bathroom bills. These events have sparked controversy
regarding social policies which are rooted in the argument between genetic and cultural
identities. More specifically, these issues are often caused by the difficulty of separating sex and
gender, and the cultural implications of doing so. Daniela Crocetti argues in her chapter on genes
and hormones from the book Challenging Popular Myths of Sex, Gender. and Biology, that
scientifically sex and gender are separated entirely. However, I believe that culturally many
people do not make such a distinction. In this paper, I will be discussing the scientific basis
between sex and gender, the impact on cultural gender roles, and similarities between this issue
and the ethnicity versus race argument.
Daniela Crocetti talks in her chapter Genes and Hormones (pg. 23-31) about the
scientific backing for the separation of sex and gender. One of her main arguments is that
genotype and phenotype often do not align. To understand this concept fully, it is important to
know the differences between the two. Genotype is the specific genetic code for an organism,
while phenotype is the physical manifestation of how an organism appears. For example, a
person with blue eyes may have the genes for blue eyes and green eyes but only the blue eyes are
expressed. Along these lines, Crocetti argues that an individual has a specific set of sex
chromosomes and that those chromosomes do not necessarily coincide with that individuals
gender identity.
One example of when sex chromosomes and gender do not align that Crocetti used was
people with androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS), which is when a person has XY (typically
male) chromosomes but presents as a female. Often, people with discrepancies between
chromosome and gender identity do not even realize that such a discrepancy exists. This may be

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due to the fact that it is easy to assume that your phenotype is the same as your genotype, since
appearance can be seen in a mirror while genetics require testing and analysis. Researchers call
AIS and other similar types of discrepancies disorders of sexual development (DSD). While AIS
is one example of a DSD, Crocetti also points out that not all differences between sex and gender
are a disorder. This is an important distinction to make because gender issues are already very
stigmatized. Using language such as disorder could be very hurtful to people who may not even
know that there is anything wrong with them.
In addition to genetics, Crocetti talks about how hormones are involved in the process of
gender differentiation, but ultimately do not decide an individuals sex on their own. For a long
time, there was a scientific consensus that hormones are what define our gender. This meant that
certain hormones were responsible for female behavior and other hormones were responsible for
male behavior. Contrary to this prior consensus, Crocetti points out that individuals on hormones
replacement therapy often experience changes in physical characteristics but not mental. (pg. 29)
This means that while their mood, appearance, and energy levels change, their personality,
behavior, and mental identity remain the same, implying that hormones are not responsible for
making an individual who they are. In addition to this, it has now been discovered that hormones
are not gendered, and that they are present in every individual, just perhaps in different numbers.
It seems that in science, the distinction between sex and gender is becoming more clear.
In my personal opinion, gender is placed upon you at birth based on what a doctor says.
While the scientific approach acknowledges that genders can differ from genetic sex, at the end
of the day, there are very few conclusions about how that relates to gender identity. After
examining the differences between genotype and phenotype, I believe that gender identity
(phenotype) doesnt have to be dependent upon genetics (genotype) and must be accessed on an

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individual basis. While I believe that biological sex should not be considered or categorized as
only male or female, culturally there is still a very strong push towards fulfilling specific gender
roles in alignment with the sex you are deemed to be, especially in more conservative countries
such as Italy.
Culturally speaking, in Italy there still exists a very traditional approach to define the
genders and to separate them. Most Italians do not recognize any difference between sex and
gender. In Italy, you are born a certain sex, and you are expected to fulfill the roles of that sex for
your entire life, resulting in very rigid social expectations. One major issue that occurs because
of this is that it is incredibly socially unacceptable to be gay or transgender because it goes
against the traditionally established gender roles. One powerful driving force behind this cultural
phenomenon is the strong influence of the Catholic church, which is evident in the everyday life
styles of the Italian people. In part due to the church, Italy remains immersed deeply in cultural
gender roles that in many more liberal parts of the world may be considered too traditional or
even sexist.
Some examples of these strict cultural gender roles are how Italian men are doing very
little housework and no child care, while Italian women are expected to cook and take care of the
children. Some statistics are showing that currently in Italy, as well as most of the rest of Europe,
more women are graduating from university than men by about 10% or even more.
(Eurostat,2016) However, despite more education, I truly believe that we are still very closed
minded about gender separation from a cultural point of view. Even if a woman attains a degree,
she is still not expected to have a career and would be considered a bad mother if she were to
leave the children with a babysitter. The same thing can be said about men, where its

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traditionally unacceptable for them to take care of the family or to have an overly feminine
career such a working at a department store.
I believe that this typical lifestyle of an Italian couple and their marriage is very
advocated by the Catholic church, which places restrictions upon what is culturally acceptable.
While this has been the subject of many controversies throughout history, I think that the Vatican
being in the center of Italy explains this traditional way of differentiating men and women. Since
I moved to the United States 7 years ago, I have noticed that it is becoming more socially
acceptable to have different gender roles then what would be expected in Italy. The American
mentality is more liberal and much more open minded, in part thanks to all the movements
around us and the current events like the North Carolina transgender bill, which has been
keeping the issue in discussion among the American people. By contrast, these kinds of issues
are not even discussed in Italy.
This particular event in North Carolina has been the center of attention for the past few
months, escalating when the Justice Department filed a civil rights lawsuit against the states socalled bathroom bill. North Carolina became the first state to restrict where transgender people
can use public bathrooms and locker rooms, arguing that people should use the facility of their
assigned gender, rather than their chosen gender identity. This bill does not recognize a
difference between sex and gender, revealing a problem that prior to the bill had not been
discussed much in the legal system. Now that some major issues such as gay marriage have been
legally resolved, courts and advocacy groups are turning to transgender rights issues, which are
not only more complicated, but also more stigmatized.
The Justice Department ended up rejecting the North Carolina bathroom bill, arguing that
it violated the Civil Right Acts of 1964 and that it was therefore unconstitutional. While I fully

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agree with the stance the government took in this instance, in part I am also glad that this debate
has happened. In order to further our civil rights, it is important to discuss issues such as these.
The media helped to keep the discussion going, because it gave exposure to the issue and also
prompted people to organize events to support their rights. Additionally, the court case set an
important precedent for other states, who can now use this case to defend transgender rights.
There will still be many more issues due to the separation of gender and sex, which is a socially
and legally complicated topic.
Like sex and gender, ethnicity and race have also been historically complicated topics.
They can be viewed the same way in that there exists a separation between genetic race and
cultural ethnicity. Gary D James argued in his chapter from the book Companion to Biological
Anthropology that, scientifically, our ethnicity or skin color is related to our population adapting
to different environments. He argues that the diversity of the climate across our planet has
directly influenced our morphological, physiological, and genetic variation within our species
(pg. 163). Obviously, all of this adds up to a very nuanced idea of what race and ethnicity are.
Just like with biological sex, genes alones are not enough to defines somebodys race. Like you
are expected to act feminine if you look feminine, you are also expected to have specific ethnical
ties if you look like that ethnicity.
Despite the similarities, the issues of sex and gender versus race and ethnicity also differ
in certain ways. One particular way is that there is a lot more variation across the globe when it
comes to race and ethnicity, automatically making it a more complicated topic. James, for
example, talks about how despite all modern populations descending from tropical heat-adapted
ancestors, they have since evolved differently based on their geographical location. (pg. 162)
Some of these adaptations include visible traits, such as skin color, while other adaptations

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include nonvisible traits, such as metabolic changes to better tolerate higher altitudes or colder
temperatures. Arguably, there is not as much evolutional diversity of biological sex, which makes
that discussion much more of a cultural topic then race and ethnicity. While there are some
similarities between sex/gender and race/ethnicity, it is also apparent that they differ in major
ways, making race and ethnicity an entirely separate conversation when it comes to human
variation.
In conclusion, there are many variables to consider when discussing topics such as sex
and gender or race and ethnicity. As mentioned earlier, historically there has not been much of a
distinction between sex and gender to date, but more recently, studies have been done which
have started to make more clarification between the two. Despite the scientific advancement on
this front, culture is always slow to follow and in many parts of the world, such as in Italy, strict
gender roles are still enforced by society. Gender roles, gender identities, and other parts of the
conversation come together as a much larger debate about human variation and are often the
basis of much deliberation on social policies, such as those involving transgender rights. Another
part of the conversation comes from the argument between race and ethnicity, which shares some
similarity with the sex and gender topic, but is ultimately a great controversy by itself. In the end,
it is apparent that none of the issue we discussed exist in a vacuum, meaning that it is important
to consider all of them when evaluating the dichotomy between scientific and cultural human
variation.

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8
References

Crocetti, D. (2013). Genes and Hormones: What Make Up an Individuals Sex. In M. AhKing (Ed.), Challenging Popular Myths of Sex, Gender and Biology (pp. 23-32). Switzerland:
Springer International.
Elliott, P. (2016, May 18). North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory: Congress Should Step
In on Bathrooms. Retrieved June 27, 2016, from http://time.com/4341150/north-carolinatransgender-bathrooms-governor-pat-mccrory/
Gender statistics. (2016, March). Retrieved June 24, 2016, from
http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Gender_statistics#Labour_market
James, G. D. (2010). Climate-Related Morphological Variation and Physiological
Adaptations in Homo sapiens. In C.S. Larsen (Ed.), A Companion to Biological Anthropology
(pp. 153-166). Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.