Making Sex: Law’s Narratives of Sex, Gender and Identity

Abstract

Beauvoir’s well-known phrase represents the later twentieth century’s attempt to understand sex, gender and identity. Her work lies in the vanguard of those who have highlighted the constructed and political nature of sex, gender and identity and posed a series of critical questions: How do we understand sex and how should we determine it? Should it be determined according to biology? According to anatomy? According to psychology? A combination of these factors, or other factors? Is it fixed at birth or is it something over which some agency can be exercised?

Keywords: Sex, Gender, Gender Identity

JEL Classification: K10