Applying a fuzzy model approach to the classification of sexual differences: Beyond the male/female binary

The idea that sex (the male/female binary) is a clear-cut category distinction is well established in our culture. However, people born with ambiguous genitalia or with a mixture of male and female anatomy have always existed, originally known as hermaphrodites and, later on, as intersex. Along the centuries, human cultures have classified sexual differences in different ways, though the dichotomical model of the two sexes has been the most prevalent. The main objective of this paper is to show how different epistemological models or frameworks have a direct impact on the way of thinking about sexual difference and we claim that a new epistemological model based on fuzzy logic can open the scope to understanding sex in a non-dichotomic and fixed way.