Small vocabulary to orient themselves between sex, genre and related

Knowing the way in which the concepts of sex, gender and sexual orientation are declined is important to give effective citizenship to the many possible life experiences of children and adults

What does the word “genre” mean? Are there only the male and female genre? What is the relationship between sex and gender? Let’s do some clarity.

Biological sex, between chromosomes, hormones and phenotypes

Let’s start with biology, and try to understand first of all what happens after the “meeting-clash” between the 23 couples of chromosomes from the mother and father (23x-23Y). Two cells (the egg cell and the sperm) come together and an individual begins his existence; This individual will have an XX (“female” or xy (“male”) genetic heritage: this heritage defines the genetic sex.

Until the sixth gestational week, development proceeds in perfect equality and synchrony, without any difference. But when a gene called Sry is activated in the fetus xy, everything changes: at this point, in fact, a rather complex process is triggered (which actually involves numerous genes) which brings the undifferentiated embryonic gonade to become a testicle. This will begin to produce hormones, including testosterone, which will direct the development of the internal and external male genitalia.

In the fetus XX, however, other genes and other hormones will guide the development that will lead to the formation of ovaries, tube, uterus and women’s external genitalia (and we speak in this case of gonadal sex).

The process of sexual differentiation is also at the origin of the development of those phenotypic characteristics (i.e., The appearance of the body) which distinguish the female and male sex: it is the phenotypic sex.

Genetic sex, gonadal sex and phenotypic sex (the biological sex) do not necessarily correspondand in the presence also of minimal chromosomal, genetic and hormonal variations, individuals will be born that cannot be framed in close binary logic (see box below).

The many shades of the genre

All this concerns biology in the strict sense (chromosomes, genes, gonads, hormones), but to adequately understand the differences in sex and gender it is important to go beyond the rigorous and anachronistic dichotomy, to consider instead as The biological, social, cultural and psychological dimensions interact and influence each othercreating the articulated and varied reality in which we live.

As males or females, The environment in which we grow up is expected that we behave on the basis of what are the cultural and social canons fixed for that specific genre (gender role): The males will be given to the cars, to the females of the dolls, also regardless of their explicit requests. Growing up, you will often tend to take for granted that children are good in mathematics and girls in Italian.

But is it really so or are they inclinations due to early conditioning? In responding to certain expectations compared to their gender, the genetic and environmental component always merge inexcriblyand both have importance.

There are girls and boys who, from very young and despite the cultural conditioning, manifest Attraction for a role not in accordance with your phenotypic sex: theirs gender expression (i.e., the way in which its kind is expressed through clothing, behavior, way of moving and speaking) It differs from expectations.

We can choose whether to indulge these preferences or brake them; In the latter case, however, we would limit the possibility of experiencing various roles and making important experiences In an age where the potential of the brain are enormous (Let’s remember: there are no colors, clothes, sports, games or books for males and females).

When the girls and boys do not feel comfortable in the genre assigned to them at birth based on the genital bodies, or when they do not conform to the social rules that this assignment presupposes, we often speak of gender variance in childhood. It may happen that some of the manifest characteristics consolidate themselves with the approach of the adolescent period, or that they disappear.

Adolescence, on the other hand, is an important period: the body changes (and therefore the secondary sexual characteristics) and change the way of seeing yourself and the surrounding world. In this phase it begins to become clearer who you are, and above all if you feel comfortable in the body in which you live.

It is precisely in adolescence, therefore, that it matures thegender identitythat is, the intimate perception that each person has of himself compared to the genre, beyond genetic, gonadic and phenotypic sex. It is self -perception of oneself in relation to the outside world and its organization according to the genre. It is a process that originates in early childhood and continues throughout life, taking on a certain stability starting from the adolescent era.

Love, for whom?

Typical of adolescence is also one of the most beautiful and intense experiences of human life: thefalling in love. It is a physical phenomenon that we can imagine as a wave, a “disturbance that spreads in the space transmitting energy but not matter” (1). Anyone who has been in love has lived on himself the experience of this “disturbance”, which has manifested itself in different ways for each of us.

THE’sexual orientation indication towards those who feel romantic, emotional or sexual attraction, and is not necessarily correlated neither with gender identity nor with phenotypic sex.

Depending on sexual orientation, we identify ourselves as homosexuals, heterosexuals, bisexuals, asexuals (people who do not feel sexual attraction, or have no interest in sexual activity), pansexuals (people who feel attraction for other people regardless of their kind or phenotypical sex), etc.

Sexual orientation, like other characteristics of the individual who mature over time, can be represented as a pathwhose duration is variable and which is not necessarily linear.

Freedom to rediscover and protect

Biology, ethics, philosophy and social sciences, together, give us a great freedom, and we should ensure this freedom to our children, respecting them and walking next to them. In this way, even those who feel “different” will perceive the love that surrounds it. Otherwise, he will live his “diversity” as something anomalous, from which a profound suffering will arise (gender dysphoria).

In his latest book, Michela Murgia wrote that “the way we appoint the reality is the one in which we end up inhabiting it” (2). For this reason it is important to know the meaning of the terms we have presented in the article: If each of us attributes a different sense to the words, in fact, communication will be compromised.

Appoint the world contributes to building itand appointing the variety of possible life experiences helps to guarantee their full right of citizenship. Awareness is an important first step to imagine, and build, a company made to everyone.

Readings for boys and girls

Below, we suggest a list of readings for children (from 3 years and up) that help to reflect on the theme of gender differences and to dismantle those stereotypes still hard to die:

• Davide Calì, A tailor -made dadArka
• Fulvia deGl’Annocenti, Antonio Ferrara, I am soSepten
• Raquel Díaz Regera, Is there something more boring than being a pink princess?Septen
• Lucia Giustini, Sandro Natalini, The king who did not want to make warEDT Giralangolo
• Shin Ji Yum, Where is my dadEditorial Science
• Leo Lionni, Small blue and small yellowBabalibri
• Simona Miola, Daniela Volpari, A birthday in the jungleEDT Giralangolo
• Francesca Pardi, Small eggUovoner
• Bianca Pitzorno, Extraterrestre on parEinaudi boys (for older ones, 8-10 years)
• Clémentine du Pontavice, Things from males or females?Babalibri
• Lynne Rickards, Margaret Chamberlain, DarlingThe beaver
• Anselmo Roveda, Paolo Domeniconi, The grandmother’s tractorEDT Giralangolo
• Manuela Salvi, Francesca Cavallaro, In the role of ZaffFatatrac
• Charlotte Zolotow, Clothilde Delacroix, A doll for AlbertoEDT Giralangolo