Abstract

The Italian genere is a polysemic word that can correspond to each of the English terms genus (a taxonomic category), gender (a sexual condition) and natural kind. Of these, the first meaning is the least controversial. As for the human kind, in biology there is no place for this notion, which attributes a common essence to all members of a natural kind, whereas the heterogeneity of the elements of a biological kind, such as the human species, is an intrinsic property of their belonging to it. In natural history, gender as a sexual condition is defined by the type or types of gametes that the individual produces. However, some sexual traits may be intermediate between those ordinarily associated with either sex, and the individual may also be a mosaic of male and female traits. In humans, gender identity involves different domains, but the notion of gender that corresponds to this extended dimension of human sexuality does not replace the proper meaning of the term in biology. Rather, it seems reasonable to recognize gender as an anchor concept with a fixed meaning to which different nomadic disciplines can bind. An anchor concept of gender as a sexual condition defined by the type of gametes produced by the individual does not presuppose that he or she exhibits feminine or masculine behavior throughout life, nor does it require that the encounter between male and female gametes takes place as a result of an intercourse.