[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-407493-105":59,"doc-detail-407493-en":131},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":124,"head_meta":126,"extra_data":128,"updated_unix":130},105,"en","between-flesh-and-identity-embodied-selves-in-disembodied-systems","Between Flesh and Identity: Embodied Selves in Disembodied Systems","","Explores psychiatric implications of binary assumptions about sex and gender, arguing that rigid classification invalidates lived experience for transgender and gender-diverse individuals and for people alienated from their bodies, as seen in eating disorders, body dysmorphic disorders, and trauma. Presents intersex conditions as evidence that sex cannot be reduced to a simple male–female dichotomy and outlines harms linked to nonconsensual “normalizing” surgeries. Frames gender as relational and psychosocial, emphasizing ethical responsibility to support embodied diversity rather than suppress it.",{"@graph":69,"@context":123},[70,84,106],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":35,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/healthcare/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/between-flesh-and-identity-embodied-selves-in-disembodied-systems/407493/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/between-flesh-and-identity-embodied-selves-in-disembodied-systems/407493.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Kyle","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-07","2026-09-28",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":105},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",12,{"@type":107,"mainEntity":108},"FAQPage",[109,115,119],{"name":110,"@type":111,"acceptedAnswer":112},"Why does the article connect sex and gender questions to psychiatric practice?","Question",{"text":113,"@type":114},"Because clinical diagnostic frameworks, treatment approaches, and institutional practices are shaped by prevailing understandings of sex and gender, which can misclassify people and increase distress.","Answer",{"name":116,"@type":111,"acceptedAnswer":117},"What evidence does the article use to challenge the binary model of sex?",{"text":118,"@type":114},"It cites intersex conditions and developmental evidence showing sex as a constellation of chromosomal, gonadal, hormonal, and secondary sexual characteristics that do not always align in one individual.",{"name":120,"@type":111,"acceptedAnswer":121},"What ethical harms does the article associate with “normalizing” intersex bodies?",{"text":122,"@type":114},"It describes a history of nonconsensual surgeries and forced assignments that aim to enforce social expectations, often leading to trauma, loss of sexual function, and psychological harm.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":125,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":127,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":129,"site_id":62},407493,1790766138,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":132},{"doc_id":129,"user_id":133,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":134,"doc_module":4,"category_id":34,"category_name":35,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":135,"file_id":136,"file_url":137,"file_type":138,"file_size":139,"view_count":105,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":19,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":52,"preview_page_count":4},3985741905716,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_994ba38a5ba835b3df7d355c54d3ed8d","Archives of Sexual Behavior (2025) 54:3869–3872 [https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-025-03314-z](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-025-03314-z)  \nBetween Flesh and Identity: Embodied Selves in Disembodied Systems  \nPaolo Meneguzzo1,2  \nReceived: 4 July 2025 / Revised: 20 August 2025 / Accepted: 21 August 2025 / Published online: 24 September 2025 © The Author(s) 2025  \nIntroduction  \nThe questions “How many sexes are there?” and “How many genders are there?” seem, on the surface, deceptively simple. Yet in psychiatric and clinical work, they open a far-reaching inquiry—not just into biology and identity, but into how society constructs, regulates, and often invalidates human diversity. As a psychiatrist, working with transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) individuals and with those suffering from deep alienation from their own bodies—as seen in eating disorders, body dysmorphic disorders, and trauma—I encounter the limits and psychological suffering caused by binary categorization daily.  \nPsychiatry, especially in its social and developmental dimensions, is uniquely positioned to address these questions with both rigor and humility. Diagnostic frameworks, treatment approaches, and institutional practices are all influenced by prevailing understandings of sex and gender. When these frameworks reflect outdated or narrow models, they not only misclassify; they contribute to distress and impair psychological well-being.  \nFrom a psychiatric perspective, we must recognize that the denial of a person’s lived experience—of their gender, body, or identity—is not a neutral act. It is a form of symbolic violence, one that undermines self-coherence, increases psychological distress, and can lead to lasting psychiatric consequences. To reduce sex and gender to binaries is to erase lives that do not fit—in doing so, psychiatry fails its ethical mandate to care.  \nThey kept asking me whether I was a boy or a girl. I said I was tired. I said I was 15. They didn’t hear me. T., adolescent patient hospitalized after suicide attempt  \n* Paolo Meneguzzo [paolo.meneguzzo@unipd.it](paolo.meneguzzo@unipd.it)  \n1 Department of Neuroscience, University of Padova, Via Giustiniani 2, 35128 Padua, Italy  \n2 Padova Neuroscience Center, University of Padova, Padua, Italy  \nHow Many Sexes Are There?  \nBiologically, sex has been framed as binary—male and female—based on chromosomal makeup and reproductive roles. Yet this view has long been contested by both science and medicine. Intersex individuals—those born with anatomical, chromosomal, or hormonal features that do not fit normative definitions of male or female—demonstrate that nature resists our neat categories. The reality of conditions such as 5-alpha-reductase deficiency, androgen insensitivity syndrome, Turner syndrome, and others underscores that sex is not a dimorphic variable, but a constellation of characteristics.  \nThe binary model of sex erases the rich spectrum of human biological variation. Research across genetics, endocrinology, and developmental biology shows that definitions of sex can be based on multiple dimensions—chromosomal patterns, gonadal structure, hormonal profiles, and secondary sexual characteristics—which do not always align in a single individual (Ainsworth, 2015; Fausto-Sterling, 2000) . Variations such as androgen insensitivity syndrome, congenital adrenal hyperplasia, and chromosomal differences like XXY or XO challenge the assumption that sex is reducible to a simple male–female dichotomy. From a clinical perspective, this complexity has concrete implications: It affects diagnostic practices, guides decisions in intersex medical care, and demands a move away from rigid categorization toward models that reflect biological diversity. Recognizing this variability not only improves scientific accuracy but also reduces the risk of harm from interventions aimed solely at enforcing binary norms.  \nClinically, the implications are serious. The history of intersex medical care is fraug","cbCaisaasBCukkwP","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaisaasBCukkwP","pdf",562482,"English","# Introduction\n# How Many Sexes Are There?\n# How Many Genders Are There?","[{\"question\":\"Why does the article connect sex and gender questions to psychiatric practice?\",\"answer\":\"Because clinical diagnostic frameworks, treatment approaches, and institutional practices are shaped by prevailing understandings of sex and gender, which can misclassify people and increase distress.\"},{\"question\":\"What evidence does the article use to challenge the binary model of sex?\",\"answer\":\"It cites intersex conditions and developmental evidence showing sex as a constellation of chromosomal, gonadal, hormonal, and secondary sexual characteristics that do not always align in one individual.\"},{\"question\":\"What ethical harms does the article associate with “normalizing” intersex bodies?\",\"answer\":\"It describes a history of nonconsensual surgeries and forced assignments that aim to enforce social expectations, often leading to trauma, loss of sexual function, and psychological harm.\"}]","Between Flesh and Identity: Embodied Selves in Disembodied Systems | PDF",1790574265]