Abstract
A number of federal and state statutes utilize the terms "male," "female," and "sex." None of these enactments, however, define these terms because legislators assume that these words are unambiguous. Disciplines other than law recognize that millions of people are intersexed and have ambiguous or noncongruent sexual attributes. Based upon a number of recent studies, some experts in the medical community and in other disciplines are questioning some of their long-held assumptions about the factors that she be used to determine sex assignment. This Article critiques the currently accepted binary sex classification system that emphasizes biological factors, such as chromosomes, gonads, and genitalia over self-identification in determining an individual's legal sex. It recommends that legal institutions look to other disciplines such as medicine, psychology, anthropology, and history and reassess how legal institutions should interpret the words sex, gender, male, and female.
How to Cite
41 Ariz. L. Rev. 265 (1999)
5
Views
2
Downloads