There are two meanings of the word 'sex' - the activity of sexual interaction; and the biological sex of a person.

Sexual interaction

• Wiccan sexual mores
• Heathen sexual mores
• Druid sexual mores
• Religio Romana sexual mores

Biological sex (XX or XY)

Sex is your biological sex (according to chromosomes and secondary sexual characteristics); gender is the role that you perform in a social context.

Judith Butler has pointed out that sex is just as socially constructed as gender.

• Why does our society regard sex/gender as a primary social category? Why not star-sign, or time of day that you were born, or totem animal?
• What about people with chromosome combinations other than XX or XY?
• Why are boys encouraged to develop their muscles, but not girls? These are physical sexual characteristics that are subject to social factors.

Sex, gender and sexuality in contemporary Paganisms

• The focus of contemporary Paganisms on the divine feminine and goddesses has gone hand-in-hand with the rise of feminism.
• Ironically, the “Great Mother Goddess” was an icon for social conservatives like Jacquetta Hawkes
• Both men and women are beginning to appreciate the diversity of deities and archetypes
• Queer theory is also beginning to have an impact on thinking about gender and sexuality
• Pagans celebrate consensual sex between adults

See also:

• Gender
• Sexuality
• Seiðr
• Stay safe - a message about sex by Jenny Schumaker (Witchvox article)

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