Contemporary approaches to sex categorization: a pragmatic defense of the binary model

Abstract

There is significant controversy today about the nature of gender and the implications of the views we might take on the subject for trans and non-binary people in both public and academic discourse, including whether gender ought to be conceptualized as distinct from biological sex. Further, the way in which sex categories are conceptualized has important practical implications for how individuals with Disorders of Sexual Development (DSDs) are treated. The model of two diametrically opposed sex categories is increasingly challenged by theorists who are largely motivated by concerns around the treatment of individuals with DSDs. But the alternative models are also problematic. Examining challenges to the binary sex model this thesis argues in favour of a pragmatic approach to sex categorization and holds that a revised binary model may in fact be well aligned with the goals and recommendations of activists and theorists regarding the treatment of DSDs.