On the question “How many genders are there?”, I think there are only three possible answers:
1) There are 2
genders, male and female
2) There are n
number of genders, where n equals 1 for every human that exists
3) There are zero
genders
If there are 2 genders, male and female, then sex is perfectly adequate to describe males and females, and the word gender is superfluous.
If there are
n number of genders, where n equals 1 for every human that exists, then it
doesn’t tell us anything empirically compelling, and the word gender is
superfluous.
If there are
zero genders, then gender is a term we’ve mistakenly constructed with no empirical
validity, and the word gender is superfluous
I believe number 3 is right, but in all cases, we are forced to arrive at the same conclusion; that the word gender is superfluous.
If you object to this, and at the same time you understand that there is no empirical basis for one sex identifying as another sex, then you must think the number of genders is higher than 2 and lower than n. But there is no empirical method or anything remotely resembling an objective analysis that one can use to arrive at a number. There are no biological markers, no rigorous psychological tests, and no objective social criteria that can definitively quantify how many genders could possibly exist. And everything else that you can put forward as justification for the term gender is better defined under a broader category of maleness and femaleness.
Therefore, we are obliged to conclude that the word ‘gender’ has no empirical utility, and is rendered superfluous.
For a more comprehensive assessment of this, see here, here and here.
