Furthermore, the notion that there are two sexes, and that all matters of identity and behavior should fall unambiguously into one or the other, is too restrictive to describe the full range of human behavior. Just as genetic composition does not always predict physical appearance, physical appearance does not necessarily predict all other aspects of sexuality. Just as genetic composition or physical appearance at birth may be ambiguous, so may gender identity, sex role, or sexual orientation be ambiguous as well. In the preceding discussion, it may be noted that while genetic makeup, physical appearance and sexual orientation are fairly easy to describe, the issues of gender identity and sex role are still poorly defined. While this provides a classification for a person's behavior within a societal context, it does not address the person's self-identification.
Personal identity is used to refer to the way people view themselves.
This is often displayed in mode of dress, mode of relating or even career or personal interests. The concept of social identity addresses the need to have a public persona that is acknowledged by others to be the desired gender, rather than a reflection of beliefs or stereotypic behaviors thought to be representative of male or female sex-roles. In this conceptualization, this dimension of gender identity may manifest incongruously from an individual's personal identity. For instance, a transgenderist, who prefers to present a social sex role of one gender, may personally identify with the gender opposite to that of social presentation. Sexual identity refers to the way in which a person desires to be sexually related to by their sex partners.