[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-407505-105":59,"doc-detail-407505-en":130},{"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":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","muchado-about-gender-how-many-sexes-are-there-two","MuchAdo About Gender - How Many Sexes Are There? - Two","","The article examines how many sexes and genders exist by analyzing different definitions used in biology and feminist theory. It argues that sexual reproduction has long involved two sexes for humans and most other species, while acknowledging variation in mating types in some lifeforms. It then reviews “gender” as distinct from “sex,” tracing two-gender assumptions across early sexology, gender-identity formulations, and structural feminist accounts such as gender systems and critical theory.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@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":15,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/literature/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/muchado-about-gender-how-many-sexes-are-there-two/407505/",{"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/muchado-about-gender-how-many-sexes-are-there-two/407505.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"WPS_1786070896","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-30","2026-09-28",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":52},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"How many sexes does the article argue humans and most species have?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"The article states that two sexes are present in humans, other animals, and most species with sexual reproduction.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"Why does the article say there are usually two genders in feminist gender-system theories?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"It explains that many gender-system approaches define gender as a structural tool for critical analysis, commonly organizing roles as man/masculine versus woman/feminine.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What issue does the article raise about defining gender as unique to individuals?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"It notes that accommodating as many genders as individuals claiming them can lead to circular definitions and calls into question whether “gender” is the best term for idiosyncratic identities.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},407505,1790876234,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":14,"category_name":15,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":52,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":19,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":143,"read_time":29},549768072016,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_155a257f0dc6eb9ab79c44ca47cae57d","Archives of Sexual Behavior (2025) 54:3897–3900 [https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-025-03330-z](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-025-03330-z)  \nMuchAdo About Gender  \nTove Solander1  \nReceived: 30 August 2025 / Revised: 19 September 2025 / Accepted: 22 September 2025 / Published online: 23 November 2025 © The Author(s) 2025  \nHow Many Sexes Are There?  \nTwo---in humans, other animals, and most other species with sexual reproduction. The fact that not all individual organisms can be neatly sexed does not change this number (see Moi, 1999, pp. 39–40; Hull, 2006, pp. 54–74) . There are lifeforms like fungi with more “mating types,” but never more than two involved in reproduction at the same time. Two is enough to introduce genetic variation. Grosz, a feminist philosopher with an unusual interest in evolutionary theory, opens for the possibility that there may in future be more---but not fewer---than two: “The human, as Darwin made clear, is the result of and an elaboration on sexual difference, and thus the human, and indeed the beyond-the-human necessarily take on (at least) two forms”(Grosz, 2005, p. 42) . This is because evolution does not reverse into less differentiated forms: “Sexual difference, once introduced as a modality of biological survival, is unlikely to be removed, only complexified, elaborated, developed further, perhaps even beyond the human”(Grosz, 2004, p. 67). Nobody knows what evolution might bring, but in my view this post-human future is less relevant to us at present. The answer has been two for a very large part of life on earth for a very long time.  \nHow Many Genders Are There?  \nThat depends on how you define “gender.” When used asa euphemism for “sex,” naturally, two. Leaving this nondefinition aside, I shall give my best answers according to definitions drawing on---while often contesting---the sex/ gender distinction.  \nFor “gender identity” in the original formulation of either a sense of which sex one belongs to or an identification with  \n* Tove Solander [tove.solander@oru.se](tove.solander@oru.se)  \n1 School of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences,Örebro University, 701 82 Örebro, Sweden  \nthe associated “gender role”(the early sexologists coining the term already mix these things up), also two (see Hausman, 1995, pp. 102–109) . More recent formulations struggle to accommodate as many as there are individuals claiming a unique gender, which leads to circular definitions and raises the question if “gender” really is the best word for idiosyncratic identities. Gender is also used synonymously with “sex role” or “gender role.” There are psychological, sociological, and feminist variations on this, but since it is about social roles assigned based on sex, the answer is again two.  \nAs for feminist theories of gender, many of them analyze “gender systems” on a structural level. In these gendersystem theories, the answer is usually two: man/masculine and woman/feminine, hierarchically arranged and defined in opposition to one another rather than with reference to sex differences (see Scott, 1986) . In an early, important elaboration of gender theory, Rubin (1975) writes: “Gender is a socially imposed division of the sexes”(p. 179) . However, Rubin still refers to “males” and “females,” indicating that her sex/gender system is based on an understanding of two sexes and two (corresponding) genders. In MacKinnon’s (1982) radical feminist version of the gender system,“man”and “woman” are social roles depending mainly on your position in sexual intercourse. Drawing this logic to the extreme, MacKinnon should agree with Wittig (1980) that “lesbians are not women,” while presumably homosexual male bottoms are. In other words, there are still only two genders, although they do not align perfectly with sex. The liberal feminist Okin (1989) defines gender as “the deeply entrenched institutionalization of sexual difference” [italics in original] (p. 6), which must be removed in order to achieve a just society.","cbCailySZFo0qMhW","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCailySZFo0qMhW","pdf",565270,"English","# How Many Sexes Are There?\n## How Many Genders Are There?","[{\"question\":\"How many sexes does the article argue humans and most species have?\",\"answer\":\"The article states that two sexes are present in humans, other animals, and most species with sexual reproduction.\"},{\"question\":\"Why does the article say there are usually two genders in feminist gender-system theories?\",\"answer\":\"It explains that many gender-system approaches define gender as a structural tool for critical analysis, commonly organizing roles as man/masculine versus woman/feminine.\"},{\"question\":\"What issue does the article raise about defining gender as unique to individuals?\",\"answer\":\"It notes that accommodating as many genders as individuals claiming them can lead to circular definitions and calls into question whether “gender” is the best term for idiosyncratic identities.\"}]","MuchAdo About Gender - How Many Sexes Are There? - Two | PDF",1790574298]