Sex refers to the biological characteristics an individual exhibits, typically determined by chromosomes. Sex is often mistakenly split into a rigid binary: male and female. There have always been those that do not fit neatly in one of those boxes. The word currently used to describe people like this is “intersex”, of which the exact definition is hotly contested. Depending on the definition, intersex people may make up to 1.7% of the population. Often children are assigned a binary sex at birth based on physical characteristics. 

Gender is a socially constructed concept, which refers to an internal feeling of connection (or lack thereof) to a gender. This feeling as it pertains to an individual is that person’s gender identity. Gender can fall within the binary spectrum, completely outside of it, and even include non-sex based characteristics. Someone that feels no gender is said to be agender. Someone who connects with their assigned gender is cisgender. Someone who identifies with a gender other than one they were assigned at birth is transgender. Intersex people may or may not identify as transgender. It is possible that everyone’s understanding and feeling of gender is unique.

Sexual Orientation (often confused with sexuality) is defined by both the individual’s gender as well as their sexual attraction. Just as gender can be infinitely variable, so may sexuality. The most commonly known are hetero- and homo- sexual, meaning different and same, respectively. Other common sexualities include: asexual, an individual that does not feel sexual attraction; bisexual, a person that is attracted to two (or more) genders; polysexual, a person that feels sexual attraction to a wide range of genders, though not all of them; and pansexual, a person that feels sexual attraction that doesn’t depend on gender. It is important to note that there are forms of attraction other than sexual, and they may not match. Other kinds of attraction include (but are not limited to) romantic, platonic, sensual, and aesthetic. A person may be homosexual, aromantic, bisensual, et cetera.