Biological Sex

The biological sex of an individual is determined based on sexual anatomy, genes, and hormones. A person born with XX chromosomes will typically have the sexual anatomy of a female, and will develop female secondary sex characteristics during puberty due to the production of female-specific hormones. A person born with XY chromosomes will typically have the sexual anatomy of a male, and during puberty will develop the secondary sex characteristics of a male due to the production of male-specific hormones. Sometimes, a person is born with either XX or XY chromosomes, but has ambiguous sexual anatomy. In these cases, the individual is considered intersex.