Sorry, but “sexual identity” is similarly nebulous. Do you mean it as being synonymous with “sexual orientation” i.e, gay, straight, bisexual, or something along that continuum, or do you mean it as a degree to which one identifies with being male or female, and either congruent or incongruent internally with one’s physical sex (as in transexualism)? If the former, you’re completely mistaken. Sexual orientation does not equal gender, which in turn, does not equal biological sex (a man or a woman can be feminine, masculine, androgynous, or neither, and none of those identities serves to automatically “sign them up” for a given sexual orientation). If you meant the latter, I’d say that’s a decent term, though not one I’ve heard commonly used. Even still, that’s NOT the same thing as gender. As in, I may genetically/physically be female, but identify internally as a male…but I may still be feminine or androgynous in many of my behaviors. In short, I think you’re trying to create a label for a whole other construct, rather than come up with a better one for “gender.” And the definition of gender as it applies to people is fine…people just use it improperly all the time to the degree that a lot of people don’t know what it actually means.
The definitions of all of these constructs are actually pretty simple, but through misuse, inconsistency, and in-exposure, they’ve become almost impossible to deal with unless operationally defined from the outset. This is especially difficult when trying to have a discussion centered on their differences. For example, my thesis dealt with feminine gender identity, that is, possessing some stereotypically feminine qualities, as opposed to simply being a member of the female sex, being more predictive of certain types of psychopathology. Females are more likely to be diagnosed with depression and most anxiety disorders over men nearly 2:1, but no one has done an adequate job of explaining why this is (lots of theories, none that account entirely or in combination for the discrepancies). I countered that it’s possible that while femininity and female usually go hand in hand, they don’t *have *to…and that it is being feminine (and not just female) that predisposes one for these conditions. I had to devote two pages of my thesis defining sex and gender to an audience consisting entirely of professors and/or PhD level clinicians, and how their misuse has led, in part, to this somewhat obvious confound. Needless to say, i find the misuse of the terms every bit as annoying, if not more so.
Orange Skinner,
Genetic Female, Androgynously Gendered, Bisexual, (who mentally doesn’t really internally identify as being “female” but doesn’t feel so in-congruent about it as to be considered a transexual, either).