sex chromosome: …as a small, dark-staining structure—the Barr body—in the cell nucleus.

sex chromosome, either of a pair of chromosomes that determine whether an individual is male or female. The sex chromosomes of human beings and other mammals are designated by scientists as X and Y. In humans the sex chromosomes consist of one pair of the total of 23 pairs of chromosomes. The other

sex determination, the establishment of the sex of an organism, usually by the inheritance at the time of fertilization of certain genes commonly localized on a particular chromosome. This pattern affects the development of the organism by controlling cellular metabolism and stimulating the

androgyny: …in which characteristics of both sexes are clearly expressed in a single individual. In biology, androgyny refers to individuals with fully developed sexual organs of both sexes, also called hermaphrodites. Body build and other physical characteristics of these individuals are a blend of normal male and female features.

sexism, prejudice or discrimination based on sex or gender, especially against women and girls. Although its origin is unclear, the term sexism emerged from the “second-wave” feminism of the 1960s through ’80s and was most likely modeled on the civil rights movement’s term racism (prejudice or

United Kingdom: Family and gender: …however; for example, despite the Sex Discrimination Act of 1975, under which the Equal Opportunities Commission was established, women’s pay rates in the 1980s were only about two-thirds of those of men. Still, higher education was increasingly opened to women from the 1960s, so that by 1980 they formed 40…

population: Sex ratio: A second important structural aspect of populations is the relative numbers of males and females who compose it. Generally, slightly more males are born than females (a typical ratio would be 105 or 106 males for every 100 females). On the other hand,…

sexual motivation, the impulse to gratify sexual needs, either through direct sexual activity or through apparently unrelated activities (sublimation). The term libido was coined by Sigmund Freud and used by him to encompass the seeking of pleasure in general, one of the major motivating forces for

Gillian Anderson: Other TV work: The Fall, Sex Education, and The Crown: …oversharing sex therapist mother in Sex Education (2019–23) and as Margaret Thatcher in the fourth season (2020) of The Crown; for her work in the latter series, the actress received her second Emmy. In the debut season (2022) of The First Lady, an anthology series about U.S. first ladies, she…

gender equality, condition of parity regardless of an individual’s gender. Gender equality addresses the tendency to ascribe, in various settings across societies, different roles and status to individuals on the basis of gender. In this context, the term gender generally refers to an individual’s

comparable worth, in economics, the principle that men and women should be compensated equally for work requiring comparable skills, responsibilities, and effort. In the United States the concept of comparable worth was introduced in the 1970s by reformers seeking to correct inequities in pay for

gonad, in zoology, primary reproductive gland that produces reproductive cells (gametes). In males the gonads are called testes; the gonads in females are called ovaries. (see ovary; testis). The gonads in some lower invertebrate groups (e.g., hydrozoans) are temporary organs; in higher forms they

sex hormone, a chemical substance produced by a sex gland or other organ that has an effect on the sexual features of an organism. Similar to many other kinds of hormones, sex hormones may also be artificially synthesized. Sex hormones known as androgens influence the growth and development of the

Calvin Blackman Bridges: That same year he published “Sex in Relation to Chromosomes and Genes,” demonstrating that sex in Drosophila is not determined simply by the “sex chromosomes” (X and Y) but is the result of a “chromosomal balance”—a mathematical ratio of the number of female sex chromosomes (X) to the number of…

Mindy Kaling: The Mindy Project, Never Have I Ever, and The Sex Lives of College Girls: She later created and cowrote The Sex Lives of College Girls (2021– ), a comedy series that centers on four college roommates; it aired on HBO Max.

sex: Abnormal chromosome effects: …are known as gynandromorphs, or sexual mosaics, and result from aberration in the distribution of the X chromosomes among the first cells to be formed during the early development of the embryo.

the Sex Pistols, rock group who created the British punk movement of the late 1970s and who, with the song “God Save the Queen,” became a symbol of the United Kingdom’s social and political turmoil. The original members were vocalist Johnny Rotten (byname of John Lydon; b. January 31, 1956, London,

population: Sex ratio: A second important structural aspect of populations is the relative numbers of males and females who compose it. Generally, slightly more males are born than females (a typical ratio would be 105 or 106 males for every 100 females). On the other hand,…

gender-affirming surgery, medical procedure in which the physical sex characteristics of an individual are modified. Gender-affirming surgery typically is undertaken when an individual chooses to align their physical appearance with their gender identity, enabling the individual to achieve a

Virginia E. Johnson: …began helping him with his sex research. She filled a crucial role in the recruitment of study participants. With her pragmatic attitude and sociable nature, she was able to persuade hundreds of men and women to participate, even though the research was widely considered untoward. She gathered information on participants’…

Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction, a nonprofit corporation affiliated with Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, U.S., founded in 1947 under the sponsorship of the zoologist Alfred C. Kinsey, with whose pioneering studies of American sexual behaviour the institute

animal reproductive system: Sponges, coelenterates, flatworms, and aschelminths: …free-living nematodes are capable of sex reversal—if the sex ratio in a given population is not optimal or if environmental conditions are not ideal, the ratio of males to females can be altered. This sometimes results in intersexes; i.e., females with some male characteristics. Hermaphroditism occurs in nematodes, and self-fertilization…

gender role, a culturally and socially determined set of expected behaviors, attitudes, and characteristics based on concepts of masculinity and femininity. A gender role should not be confused with gender identity, which refers to an individual’s internal sense of being masculine, feminine, on a

sex slavery, condition in which one human being is owned by another and is forced or otherwise coerced into working in the sex trade. Activities associated with sex slavery include prostitution, pornography, child sex rings, sex tourism, and such occupations as nude dancing and modeling. Sex

sex therapy, form of behaviour modification or psychotherapy directed specifically at difficulties in sexual interaction. Many sex therapists use techniques developed in the 1960s by the Americans William Masters and Virginia Johnson to help couples with nonorganic problems that affect their sex

sex slavery: pornography, child sex rings, sex tourism, and such occupations as nude dancing and modeling. Sex trafficking is the procurement and transport of the victims.

sex trafficking, form of human trafficking that involves the use of fraud, force, or coercion to persuade or compel victims to engage in commercial sex for the profit of the trafficker. Although victims are often transported across national borders, sex trafficking, under U.S. and international

COYOTE: …end the stigma associated with sex work, calling for the abolition of laws against sex workers, who included strippers, phone sex operators, prostitutes, and adult-film actors. They also advocated the abolition of laws against pimps and panderers but argued for governmental regulation of the prostitute-pimp relationship as a contractual labor…

Camille Paglia: …Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson (1990), Sex, Art, and American Culture: Essays (1992), and Vamps & Tramps: New Essays (1994). Her public persona and iconoclastic views angered many academics and feminists and titillated audiences of television talk shows and college lecture halls as well as those who read her magazine essays…

Harvey Weinstein: Early life and Miramax: …the rights to the provocative sex, lies, and videotape, which became Miramax’s first major hit.

chemoreception: Pheromones: A sex-attractant pheromone would be disadvantageous if it also attracted individuals of other species. Specificity is dependent to some extent on the degree to which a particular molecular structure can be modified; for example, there are more possible permutations of the structure of a molecule with…

sex-controlled character, a genetically controlled feature that may appear in organisms of both sexes but is expressed to a different degree in each. The character seems to act as a dominant in one sex and a recessive in the other. An example of such a sex-controlled character is gout in humans;

sex-controlled character, a genetically controlled feature that may appear in organisms of both sexes but is expressed to a different degree in each. The character seems to act as a dominant in one sex and a recessive in the other. An example of such a sex-controlled character is gout in humans;

sex-limited character, an observable feature appearing only in members of one sex of a given population of organisms, although organisms of both sexes may have the genetic constitution that determines the trait. The genes that control milk yield and quality in dairy cattle, for example, are present

sex-linked character, an observable feature of an organism controlled by the genes on the chromosomes that determine the organism’s sex. Each individual has a pair of sex chromosomes; one member of the pair is inherited from each parent. In humans, for example, the X, or female-determining,

mathematics: The numeral system and arithmetic operations: …the base of 60 (sexagesimal). The reasons for the choice of 60 are obscure, but one good mathematical reason might have been the existence of so many divisors (2, 3, 4, and 5, and some multiples) of the base, which would have greatly facilitated the operation of division. For…

Ruse, city of northern Bulgaria, on the Danube River near the mouth of the Rusenski Lom. Bulgaria’s principal river port and a transportation hub for road and rail, Ruse has regular shipping services on the Danube and an airport. Upstream is the Friendship Bridge, built in 1954, carrying road and

Jeanette Winterson: Winterson’s subsequent novels included Sexing the Cherry (1989); Written on the Body (1992); Art and Lies (1994), about dehumanization and the absence of love in society; Gut Symmetries (1997); and The PowerBook (2000). She later published Lighthousekeeping (2004), an exploration of the nature of storytelling

sexism, prejudice or discrimination based on sex or gender, especially against women and girls. Although its origin is unclear, the term sexism emerged from the “second-wave” feminism of the 1960s through ’80s and was most likely modeled on the civil rights movement’s term racism (prejudice or

sexology, interdisciplinary science that focuses on diverse aspects of human sexual behavior and sexuality, including sexual development, relationships, intercourse, sexual dysfunction, sexually transmitted diseases, and pathologies such as child sexual abuse or sexual addiction. Although the term

divine office: Terce, sext, and none correspond to the mid-morning, noon, and mid-afternoon hours. Compline, a night prayer, is of monastic origin, as was prime, recited in the early morning before being suppressed in 1964. The office has for centuries been primarily the responsibility of monks, who sang…

Sextans, constellation at about 10 hours right ascension and on the celestial equator in declination. It is a faint constellation; the brightest star is Alpha Sextantis, with a magnitude of 4.5. Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius invented this constellation in 1687; it commemorates the sextant

sextant, instrument for determining the angle between the horizon and a celestial body such as the Sun, the Moon, or a star, used in celestial navigation to determine latitude and longitude. The device consists of an arc of a circle, marked off in degrees, and a movable radial arm pivoted at the

World War II: The western Allies and Stalin: Cairo and Tehrān, 1943: Sextant, the conference of November 22–27, 1943, for which Churchill, Roosevelt, and Chiang Kai-shek met in Cairo, was, on Roosevelt’s insistence, devoted mainly to discussing plans for a British–U.S.–Chinese operation in northern Burma. Little was produced by Sextant except the Cairo Declaration, published on December…

measurement system: Greeks and Romans: …capacity measures were the hemina, sextarius, modius, and amphora for dry products and the quartarus, sextarius, congius, urna, and amphora for liquids. Since all of these were based on the sextarius and since no two extant sextarii are identical, a mean

Alan Hovhaness: …instrumental groupings, as does his Sextet for violin, timpani, drums, tam-tam, marimba, and glockenspiel (1966).

chamber music: Sources and instruments: …a second viola), and string sextet (quintet plus a second cello) are chief among them.

Irving Rapper: Later films: …as a dialogue director on Sextette (1978), a Mae West musical, Rapper retired. He died just weeks before his 102nd birthday.

August, eighth month of the Gregorian calendar. It was named for the first Roman emperor, Augustus Caesar, in 8 bce. Its original name was Sextilus, Latin for “sixth month,” indicating its position in the early Roman

sexting, the sending or receiving of sexual words, pictures, or videos via technology, typically a mobile phone. A portmanteau of the words sex and texting, sexting gained popularity as both a cultural phenomenon and a topical study of research interest in the early part of the 21st century. As

José María Arguedas: His novel El sexto (1961; “The Sixth One”) is based on his imprisonment (1937–38) during Oscar Benavides’s dictatorship. The novel Todas las sangres (“All the Races”) appeared in 1964 and was followed by an unfinished novel, El zorro de arriba y el zorro de abajo (1971; The…

sexton, church custodian charged with keeping the church and parish buildings prepared for meetings, caring for church equipment, and performing related minor duties such as ringing the bell and digging graves. The term is sometimes used interchangeably with “sacristan,” denoting a church officer

Anne Sexton was an American poet whose work is noted for its confessional intensity. Her poems addressed many taboo topics and explored familial and intimate relationships through the use of myths and archetypes. She won a Pulitzer Prize for her collection Live or Die (1966). Born Anne Harvey, she

online predator: How predation begins: …friends or family—a practice called sextortion. In the United States some states have laws specifically against sextortion, whereas other states treat such cases as they would extortion or blackmail. Predators may also offer gifts or operate under the notion of secrecy, making their victims feel as though they have a…

Sextus Empiricus was an ancient Greek philosopher-historian who produced the only extant comprehensive account of Greek Skepticism in his Outlines of Pyrrhonism and Against the Mathematicians. As a major exponent of Pyrrhonistic “suspension of judgment,” Sextus elaborated the 10 tropes of

sexual abuse, in criminal law, any act of sexual contact that a person suffers, submits to, participates in, or performs as a result of force or violence, threats, fear, or deception or without having legally consented to the act. Sexual contact in this context is usually understood to encompass

human sexual activity, any activity—solitary, between two persons, or in a group—that induces sexual arousal. There are two major determinants of human sexual activity: the inherited sexual response patterns that have evolved as a means of ensuring reproduction and that are a part of each

sexual assault, illegal form of sexual contact initiated or performed without the appropriate consent of the victim. Acts of sexual assault may be undertaken or facilitated through physical force, psychological coercion or manipulation, deception, or the victim’s incapacity to give consent (e.g.,

pheromone: Pheromones play a role in sexual attraction and copulatory behaviour, and they have been shown to influence the sexual development of many mammals as well as of insects such as termites and grasshoppers. Such pheromones tend to last relatively longer and extend farther distances than alarm pheromones. Aspects of vertebrate…

Alfred Kinsey: …Kinsey scale first appeared, and Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (1953). These reports, based on 18,500 personal interviews, indicated a wide variation in behaviour and sexual orientation. Although interviews were carefully conducted and certain statistical criteria met, the studies were criticized because of irregularities in sampling and the general…

Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, statistical study published in 1948 by A.C. Kinsey and his associates W.B. Pomeroy and C.E. Martin, the first of its kind. Both this work and Kinsey’s Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (1953) relied on personal interviews. Sexual Behavior in the Human Male

human sexual activity, any activity—solitary, between two persons, or in a group—that induces sexual arousal. There are two major determinants of human sexual activity: the inherited sexual response patterns that have evolved as a means of ensuring reproduction and that are a part of each

Why Do Some Animals Eat Their Mates After Sex?: The practice of sexual cannibalism may sound like a horrific piece of fiction, but in fact this occurs in the behavioral repertoires of several animals. It refers to the eating of all or part of one’s mate during courtship or copulation. This behavior can seem like an evolutionary…

character: A sexual character is one that distinguishes male from female. An organism’s primary sexual characters are its reproductive organs and gametes (sex cells); an organism’s secondary sexual characters include all other structural or visual differences, such as mammary glands, muscular development, plumages, and behavioral patterns, that…

Carole Pateman: In her most famous work, The Sexual Contract (1988), Pateman challenged the liberal idea that the power of the state does not contradict the freedom of individuals because it is founded upon their consent. Social-contract theorists like Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau rejected the notion that political authority could be obtained…

mental disorder: Paraphilic disorders: Paraphilias, or sexual deviations, are defined as unusual fantasies, urges, or behaviors that are recurrent and sexually arousing. In fetishism, inanimate objects (e.g., shoes) are the person’s sexual preference and means of sexual arousal. In transvestism, the recurrent wearing

Luce Irigaray: …for her theory of “sexual difference,” according to which the supposedly sexless notion of the subject, or ego, in Western philosophy and psychoanalytic theory subtly reflects the interests and perspectives of men, while women are associated with the nonsubject (the Other) or with matter and nature. She argued that…

sexual differentiation, in human embryology, the process by which the male and female sexual organs develop from neutral embryonic structures. The normal human fetus of either sex has the potential to develop either male or female organs, depending on genetic and hormonal influences. In humans,

sexual dimorphism, the differences in appearance between males and females of the same species, such as in colour, shape, size, and structure, that are caused by the inheritance of one or the other sexual pattern in the genetic material. The differences may be extreme, as in the adaptations for

animal social behavior: Social interactions involving sex: …mate with males with elaborate courtship signals (such as the greatly elongated tail of the male long-tailed widowbird), then this preference will be reinforced over time by the greater ability of the male offspring that possess the signal to attract mates. This preference will also be reinforced if both the…

sexual dysfunction, the inability of a person to experience sexual arousal or to achieve sexual satisfaction under appropriate circumstances, as a result of either physical disorder or, more commonly, psychological problems. The most common forms of sexual dysfunction have traditionally been

gender equality, condition of parity regardless of an individual’s gender. Gender equality addresses the tendency to ascribe, in various settings across societies, different roles and status to individuals on the basis of gender. In this context, the term gender generally refers to an individual’s

Germaine Greer: …and feminist who championed the sexual freedom of women.

sexual harassment, unsolicited verbal or physical behaviour of a sexual nature. Sexual harassment may embrace any sexually motivated behaviour considered offensive by the recipient. Legal recourse is available in cases that occur in the workplace, though it is very difficult to obtain convictions.

Marvin Gaye: …Belgium, where he wrote “Sexual Healing” (1982), the song that signaled his comeback and led to his only competitive Grammy Award.

impotence, in general, the inability of a man to achieve or maintain penile erection and hence the inability to participate fully in sexual intercourse. In its broadest sense the term impotence refers to the inability to become sexually aroused; in this sense it can apply to women as well as to

sexual intercourse, reproductive act in which the male reproductive organ (in humans and other higher animals) enters the female reproductive tract. If the reproductive act is complete, sperm cells are passed from the male body into the female, in the process fertilizing the female’s egg and

sex: Abnormal chromosome effects: …are known as gynandromorphs, or sexual mosaics, and result from aberration in the distribution of the X chromosomes among the first cells to be formed during the early development of the embryo.

sexual motivation, the impulse to gratify sexual needs, either through direct sexual activity or through apparently unrelated activities (sublimation). The term libido was coined by Sigmund Freud and used by him to encompass the seeking of pleasure in general, one of the major motivating forces for

Wolfenden Report: …recommendations was enacted in the Sexual Offences Act (1967).

pedophilia: …urges generally commits a serious sexual offense. Patients who are diagnosed with the disorder are expected to participate in treatment programs. To the extent that they are successful, however, such programs, involving both cognitive and behavioral therapies (see cognitive behaviour therapy), have served mainly to strengthen the affected individual’s ability…

sexual orientation, the enduring pattern of an individual’s emotional, sexual, and/or romantic attraction. In science, sexual orientation is often divided into the three components of attraction, behaviour, and self-identification. There are myriad ways to describe sexual orientation, but the most

John Rechy: The nonfictional The Sexual Outlaw (1977) is Rechy’s “prose documentary” of three days and nights in the sexual underground. In The Miraculous Day of Amalia Gómez (1991), set in the barrio of Los Angeles, Rechy makes use of the techniques of magic realism. His other novels included…

parasitism: Sexual parasitism, which is actually a type of specialized reproduction, is most commonly associated with deep-sea anglerfish, where it occurs in more than 20 species. In these fish, males are much smaller than females. (In the case of the northern seadevil, or deep-sea angler, Ceratias…

Camille Paglia: …that embodied her unconventional opinions: Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson (1990), Sex, Art, and American Culture: Essays (1992), and Vamps & Tramps: New Essays (1994). Her public persona and iconoclastic views angered many academics and feminists and titillated audiences of television talk shows and college…

David Mamet: In Sexual Perversity in Chicago (produced 1974; filmed as About Last Night… [1986]), a couple’s budding sexual and emotional relationship is destroyed by their friends’ interference. American Buffalo (produced 1975; film 1996) concerns dishonest business practices; A Life in the Theatre (produced 1977) explores the

Kate Millett: …liberation movement, whose first book, Sexual Politics, began her exploration of the dynamics of power in relation to gender and sexuality.

adrenal gland: Diseases of the adrenal glands: …in premature sexual development (sexual precocity).

propagation: Sexual propagation.: With crops that produce seed freely and come true closely enough for the purposes in view, growing from seed usually is the cheapest and most satisfactory method of plant propagation. Many types of seeds may be sown in open ground and, barring extreme…

sexual reproduction, the production of new organisms by the combination of genetic information of two individuals of different sexes. In most species the genetic information is carried on chromosomes in the nucleus of reproductive cells called gametes, which then fuse to form a diploid zygote. The

sexual response cycle, pattern of physiologic events occurring during sexual arousal and intercourse. In both men and women, these events may be identified as occurring in a sequence of four stages: excitement, plateau, orgasm, and resolution. The basic pattern of these stages is similar in both

Playboy: …it contributed to the so-called sexual revolution in the United States in the 1960s, marked by greatly more permissive attitudes toward sexual interest and activity than had been prevalent in earlier generations. The magazine’s format and approach were widely imitated.

sexual selection, theory in postulating that the evolution of certain conspicuous physical traits—such as pronounced coloration, increased size, or striking adornments—in animals may grant the possessors of these traits greater success in obtaining mates. From the perspective of natural selection,

sex slavery, condition in which one human being is owned by another and is forced or otherwise coerced into working in the sex trade. Activities associated with sex slavery include prostitution, pornography, child sex rings, sex tourism, and such occupations as nude dancing and modeling. Sex

Carolus Linnaeus: The sexual system of classification: A few days after arriving in the Dutch town of Harderwijk in May 1735, Linnaeus completed his examinations and received his medical degree following the submission of a thesis he had prepared in advance on the topic of intermittent fevers. Linnaeus…

sexual-predator law, statute that mandates lengthy periods of civil commitment for habitual sexual offenders and sexual psychopaths beyond the completion of their criminal sentences. Sexual-predator laws became popular in the United States in the 1990s, and their passage raised constitutional

sexuality, the quality or state of being sexual, encompassing a spectrum of sexual identities. Terms associated with sexuality include sexual attraction, which refers to the desire for physical intimacy, and romantic attraction, which encompasses emotional closeness and is not always tied to

sexually transmitted disease (STD), any disease (such as syphilis, gonorrhea, AIDS, or a genital form of herpes simplex) that is usually or often transmitted from person to person by direct sexual contact. It may also be transmitted from a mother to her child before or at birth or, less frequently,

sexually transmitted disease (STD), any disease (such as syphilis, gonorrhea, AIDS, or a genital form of herpes simplex) that is usually or often transmitted from person to person by direct sexual contact. It may also be transmitted from a mother to her child before or at birth or, less frequently,

Institute for Sexual Science, German research clinic and medical practice in operation from 1919 to 1933 in Tiergarten, Berlin, known as the first sexology institute in the world. The Institute for Sexual Science assisted thousands of individuals with counseling, sex education, treatment for