[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-40792-en":3,"doc-seo-40792-105":30,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":91},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":21,"is_downloadable":21,"audit_status":21,"page_count":22,"language":23,"language_code":24,"site_id":25,"html_lang":24,"table_of_contents":26,"faqs":27,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":28,"read_time":29},40792,1374391974468,"Eden","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_29158cc5080c5b710cf443261637dec0",8,"Research & Report","Sex Categories in Healthcare Contexts: A Consequentialist Analysis","A consequentialist critique rejects an argument that patients should not be required to specify a sex category (“male” or “female”) on healthcare forms. The paper challenges the claim that non-binary and transgender patients suffer negative consequences from such questions due to missing supporting data, neglect of the broader downstream effects of removing the category field, and the unlikelihood that eliminating the question resolves the underlying problems.","Article  \nSex Categories in Healthcare Contexts ―A Consequentialist Analysis 1  \nSusanna Flavia Boxall * and Becky Cox White  \nCalifornia State University, Chico, CA, USA  \n* Corresponding author: [sboxall@csuchico.edu](sboxall@csuchico.edu)  \nSubmitted: 3 October 2021, accepted: 26 March 2023, published: 28 April 2023  \nAbstract: We offer a consequentialist based rejection of a recent argument claiming that patients should no longer be required to specify a sex category (i.e., mark “male” or“female”) on healthcare forms. The targeted argument—based on claims that non binary and transgender patients experience negative consequences when asked to choose a sex category—fails because (1) no data are provided to support this claim; (2) the broader consequences of removing this information have not been considered; and (3) eliminating the sex category question is unlikely to solve the problems identified.  \nKeywords: sex category; sex binary; non binary; transgender; healthcare; consequentialism  \nHow to cite: Boxall, S. F. ; Cox White, B. Sex Categories in Healthcare Contexts. Journal of Controversial Ideas 2023 , 3(1), 3; doi:10 .35995/jci03010003 .  \n©2023 Copyright by the authors. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4 .0) license.  \nIntroduction  \nIn a recent article2 Lauren Freeman and Saray Ayala López (hereinafter, the Authors) argue that non binary and trans patients3 often receive inappropriate healthcare because healthcare providers (HCPs) focus on patients’ uncommon sex/gender status rather than on their presenting health issues. They recommend in general that providers focus on the anatomical loci of patients’ complaints and in particular that the section of the healthcare record requiring patients to specify a sex (i.e., mark “male” or “female”) be deleted from  \n1 We would like to express our appreciation to two anonymous reviewers whose suggestions improved this article in many ways. Any remaining errors or confusion are, of course, our own.  \n2 Freeman, L. , and Ayala López, S. (2018) . Sex categorization in medical contexts: A cautionary tale. Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 28(3): 243–80 .  \n3 “Non binary” refers to individuals who identify as something other than “merely” male or female; “trans”refers to people whose preferred gender identity does not align with their biological sex.  \nmedical forms.4 In response, we argue that their argument fails by (1) neglecting to provide any supporting data; (2) ignoring the broader consequences of omitting this information; and (3) being unlikely to solve the problems they identify. But before turning to our critique, we briefly review some of the history and contexts that may seem to support their suggestion.  \nA Brief History of “Sex” vs.‘Gender”  \nAt least since Simone de Beauvoir’s work in the 1940s, feminist philosophy has been interested in understanding and problematizing women’s typical experience of embodiment to demonstrate, elucidate, and challenge women’s oppression. One of Beauvoir’s main contributions to feminist philosophy is encapsulated in her famous claim that “one is not born, but rather becomes, woman.”5 As Judith Butler explained, Beauvoir makes “a distinction between the natural body [i.e., sex] and the body as an historical construct or signifier [i.e. , gender] .”6 From a political standpoint, the theory of social construction of gender was instrumental to denouncing naturalized gender roles that were presumed to justify women’s second class status.  \nThe field of feminist philosophy underwent a major upheaval in 1990 with the publication of Butler’s Gender Trouble, where she argued that not only gender, but also sex, was a social construct: “If the immutable character of sex is contested, perhaps this construct called ‘sex’ is as culturally constructed as gender.”7 While the theory of the social construction of sex has been endorsed by some (though by no 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