Caitlyn Jenner is a He or an It

Gender vs Sex When using words like he, she, him, her, man and woman, we could be referring to two different things. We could be referring to their sex or their gender. Let's examine both words Gender: "The state of being male or female (typically used with reference to social and cultural differences rather than biological ones)" http://www.oxforddictionaries.com... Sex: "Either of the two main categories (male and female) into which humans and many other living things are divided on the basis of their reproductive functions:" http://www.oxforddictionaries.com... When discussing Caitlyn Jenner, we must determine, whether it is more appropriate and accurate to address her as a female, or as a male. If I show that in most circumstances, calling Mrs. Jenner a her is appropriate, than we can conclusively say that referring to her as a female, is more accurate. We literally use gender pronouns all the time without a second thought. We rarely address somebody by what sex they are, because honestly we don't even know. We usually refer to them as whatever face they put on to the world. Caitlyn (formerly Bruce) has given herself a female name, female appearance, and finally called herself a "woman" after his appearance on "Vanity Fair". Three things are clear. Gender and sex are different things. We typically don't inspect people's crotch before addressing them, so referring to them by gender is more appropriate and common. Caitlyn, claims to be a woman. The debate should be over right here, but I'll continue. Here is a quote from a transgender writer on how to choose what pronoun to call an individual. "Whenever possible, ask transgender people which pronoun they would like you to use. A person who identifies as a certain gender, whether or not that person has taken hormones or had some form of surgery, should be referred to using the pronouns appropriate for that gender. If it is not possible to ask a transgender person which pronoun is preferred, use the pronoun that is consistent with the person's appearance and gender expression. For example, if a person wears a dress and uses the name Susan, feminine pronouns are usually appropriate. It is never appropriate to put quotation marks around either a transgender person's chosen name or the pronoun that reflects that person's gender identity." http://boingboing.net... Personally, I think asking them their preferred pronoun is going to far. We don't do that with random non transgendered people we meet, and we shouldn't do it with them, but the writer does give some common sense advice, you should refer to somebody, by whatever gender, they put themselves out as, unless they make it clear they would prefer a different pronoun. Let me sum this up, again. Just to make myself clear. In everyday life, we refer to people as the gender they look like or try to look like (again, doing a crotch check is rude), seeing as how, gender is the most common identifier of a person and not sex, it would be more accurate to call the person, by their gender. Gender Identity I want to dig a bit more into gender identity, since it may not be clear to some voters, that people actually do identify with a gender, that doesn't necessarily align with their sex. Some people, may think "well this is just a boy putting on a dress, not a girl", but that isn't how gender identity works. Most of the time, a person's gender identity is formed at 3 years old. (Ann M. Gallagher, James C. Kaufman (2005). Gender differences in mathematics: An integrative psychological approach) Gender identity isn't something they have control over. If you haven't gone through it just imagine it for yourself. Imagine being another sex. Maybe you'll enjoy the new play things at first, but what about after that? When you settle into your sex. I'm both male in gender and sex, if I became female, I'd struggle real hard to care for my appearance as much as they do, I'd probably enjoy belching and farting a lot, I'd drink beer and hard liquor instead of wine coolers. Sure these things are okay for me to do as a guy, society isn't going to look down on me for it, but females would look like straight trash for that stuff. If a female was in a male's body, they may enjoy dressing up, painting their nails, watching soap operas, or whatever the hell chicks do. The bad thing is, they'd have to repress their gender identity, in order to fit in. They wouldn't feel completely themselves. If you can't imagine yourself in the opposite sex's body, because you can't stop thinking about the new play things, than just think about yourself if you switched bodies, with your mom or grandma. Nobody faces as much persecution as transgendered people. Nobody chooses to identify with another sex, nobody would take all that pain and suffering for "the fun of it", these people actually identify with a gender that doesn't match their sex. They make these changes, so their outside can match their insides. We should respect that, and use the pronoun that most accurately describes their gender. Before you start thinking that gender identity is just a social construct and shouldn't be taken seriously, take a look at what several doctors researching gender identity have stated on the subject; "Note that just as gender and sex are not interchangeable terms, neither are gender development and sexual development interchangeable. Physiologic sexual development progresses through distinct stages from the neonatal period through infancy, childhood, puberty and adolescence, and adulthood. Such physiologic change is distinguishable from gender-related behaviors during each of these stages. The sexual identity that emerges beyond childhood is very clearly a separate entity from gender identity. Aspects of physical sexual growth, eroticism, and eventual sexuality, although closely related to gender, should not necessarily be used to draw conclusions about a patient's gender definitions" http://emedicine.medscape.com... Conclusion Gender identity and the sex of an individual, for the most part overlaps. Sometimes the overlap just doesn't happen. We know that sex and gender identity are two separate things. We know that typically not only do people bypass "crotch tests" to refer to an individuals gender, not sex. We know that people prefer to be called by their gender. (if you don't believe me, imagine people continually referring to you as the inappropriate gender). The concept of gender, can't necessarily be as easily quantified as sex, but we know that the two are distinct entities. I ask the judges to use common sense and vote con in this debate. Note To Pro Pro, you've made the mistake of forfeiting the first round, but you don't have to forfeit the debate. If you forfeit the debate, like you told me you wanted to do, I'll understand, but I definitely wanted to write my argument before you decided to do so. Good Luck