research:gender:start [Project Sunshine]

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====== Understanding Gender ======

| ^ Gender Quick Facts ^ |
| {{:wiki:gender_spectrum_placeholder.png?200|Placeholder Image}} |
| Internal Model: A person's own sense of sex. |
| History: Documented for over 4,500 years. |
| Basis: Congenital and biological. |
| Distribution: Bimodal, not binary. |
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===== What is Gender? =====
Gender is the internal mental model of a person's own sex. While the word "gender" simply means "type" in its Latin roots, it is a complex, esoteric concept that captures a spectrum of human experience.
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==== The Biological Reality ====
Contrary to simplified "health class" narratives, human sex and gender are not a binary, but a bimodal distribution. Most individuals fall into one of two major groups, but a significant portion of the population naturally exists outside of these clusters.
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Gender is established during gestation, specifically while the cerebral cortex is forming—generally between weeks 14 and 24 of pregnancy. Present evidence suggests that a person's gender is congenital and locked in before birth.
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==== Dimensions of the Self ====
To understand gender, we must distinguish it from other biological markers:


Genotype: The genetically defined chromosomal karyotype (e.g., XX, XY, XXY, etc.).


Phenotype: The observable sexual characteristics like genitals, bone structure, and fat distribution.


Gender: The subconscious internal sense of identity.


Sexual Orientation: Who you are attracted to; this is separate from gender identity.

==== A Global History ====
Gender-variant people are not a modern phenomenon; the current understanding has simply been "sidelined" or suppressed by colonialism and various regimes.
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4,500 years ago: The Gala existed as a middle-gender priest class in the Sumerian Empire.


Pre-Colonialism: Indigenous North American cultures recognized third genders long before European contact.


218 AD: Roman Emperor Elagabalus requested to be addressed as a "Lady" rather than a "Lord".
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Early 1900s: Magnus Hirschfield was documenting third genders and transition in Germany before his research was destroyed by the Nazi party in 1933.
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===== References & Citations =====

Badgley, J., et al. (2021). The Gender Dysphoria Bible. //Originally published at genderdysphoria.fyi//.