A new finding in mice rewrites the textbook explanation of the male sex-determining gene, Sry. It might also help us better understand how males and females come to be.
People buy food at the Githurai market in Kiambu, Kenya. The country is doing a census that is breaking new ground in Africa.
EPA/Daniel Irungu
Athlete Caster Semenya will need to take hormone-lowering agents, or have surgery, if she wishes to continue her career in her chosen events. But the decision to ban her is flawed on many grounds.
Caster Semenya leads the women’s 800 metres at the Rio 2016 Olympics.
CP DC Press/Shutterstock
Arbitration case between athlete Caster Semenya and the IAAF centres on eligibility to compete based on testosterone – but there are other factors in play.
A copy of an engraving of Count Casimir Pulaski published in 1871.
Wikimedia Commons
New evidence suggests the 18th-century cavalry officer Casimir Pulaski was a woman or intersex. While we know little of intersex soldiers, there is a fascinating history of women dressing as men to fight.
A sign denouncing transphobia is held up in front of the U.S. Supreme Court at a protest in June 2016.
(Shutterstock)
Donald Trump is seeking to amend laws that prevent discrimination against Americans based on their sex. It's all just another attempt to fire up the Republican base for the mid-term elections.
Allowing for more gender options in the public sphere isn't political correctness gone awry. It's just a small shift in the evolution of how we understand, categorise and define gender.
There are now many gender categorizations, from the traditional ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ to ‘gender fluid’ and ‘undifferentiatied.’ Health researchers can work with these to gain a more accurate understanding of disease susceptibilities.
(Shutterstock)
There are some striking physical and symbolic similarities.
Does it make sense to target female athletes with high testosterone levels? Caster Semenya competes in the women’s 800-meter semifinal during the London Olympics.
Gary Hershorn/Reuters
Some women naturally produce high levels of testosterone. Why is this innate condition treated differently from other conditions that potentially enhance athletic performance?
The silence at the end of Rio 2016 will only last until we switch on our televisions for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Reuters/Issei Kato
The Olympic Games are a theatre — sometimes farce, sometimes tragedy, reality TV, morality play or soap opera — where geopolitical, social and technological dramas are played out.
The strongest resistance to the United Nations resolution to promote LGBTI rights came from Muslim and African states. Many of these countries still criminalise same-sex relationships.
Many babies are born with a genetic variant that leads to ambiguous sexual development.
.gsr./Flickr
Many babies are born with a genetic variant that can result in the child being neither a typical boy or girl. There has been considerable debate about whether the child should be treated.
The idea of ‘family balancing’ is based on the belief that children come in two genders that have essentially different traits.
Jason Pratt/Flickr
The risk of harm in sex selection stems from the fact that parents don't desire any child, they want a child of a particular sex, who is to remain within the limits of binary gender roles.
The high court has ruled that New South Wales must allow Norrie to legally identify as having a non-specific gender.
AAP/Daniel Munoz
Have you ever asked yourself why institutions continue to demand that we identify ourselves as male or female on every form? What difference does gender make to my bank account, to the tax office, or to…
Orchids records Phoebe Hart’s journey to come to terms with her intersex condition.
ABC TV
The documentary, Orchids: my intersex adventure, aims to reduce the secrecy and shame in which intersex people have been forced to spend their lives. It relates the story of filmmaker, Phoebe Hart, who…
Visiting Professor in Biomedical Ethics, Murdoch Children's Research Institute; Distinguished Visiting Professor in Law, University of Melbourne; Uehiro Chair in Practical Ethics, University of Oxford