Gender symbol

Gender symbols

Sexual diversity sign on a green light in London (near Trafalgar Square , 2017)

A gender symbol [ ˈdʒɛndɐ ] is a symbol with which the biological sex ( English sex ) of a living being or the social sex (gender) of a person is identified. The gender symbols in typography are mostly either identical to or derived from astronomical symbols . In gender research , a gender symbol can also designate people or things if these symbolize certain aspects of a social gender.

origin

Gender symbols have been known mainly from horoscopes since the 4th century ; in astrology they still refer to the classic planets Mars and Venus . Since the Renaissance they have also been common abbreviations in astronomy . Alchemists used the symbols to denote the most important metals of the time, namely iron and copper (female).

The Swedish naturalist Carl von Linné took up the symbols for the first time in a biological and thus sexual context, namely for the sex of plants. They can be found in his basic work Philosophia Botanica , published in 1751 .

Typographic symbols

masculinity
description	Unicode characters	meaning
Mars symbol	U + 2642 ♂	Male gender , man . Planet mars
Venus symbol in the pose of the Martian symbol		Trans man , transsexual man
Combination of masculinity and femininity symbols (Mars and Venus symbols) in the pose of the masculinity symbol	U + 26A6 ⚦	Transgender , male androgyny .
Double Mars symbol	U + 26A3 ⚣	Male homosexuality , gay , gay
Venus with double Mars symbol		Male bisexuality

femininity
description	Unicode characters	meaning
Venus symbol	U + 2640 ♀	Feminine , woman . Planet venus
Mars symbol in the pose of the Venus symbol	U + 29EC ⧬	Trans woman , transsexual woman
Combination of masculinity and femininity symbols (Mars and Venus symbols) in the pose of the femininity symbol		Female androgyny
Double Venus symbol	U + 26A2 ⚢	Lesbian , female homosexuality
Mars with double Venus symbol		Female bisexuality

Intersex and transgender
description	Unicode characters	meaning
A combination of Venus and Mars symbols	U + 26A5 ⚥	Transgender , hermaphrodite in entomology , intersexuality .
Wheel cross / sun wheel	U + 1F728 ⊕	Alternative symbol for intersexuality (“Intersexual” means between the sexes , and the earth is between Mars and Venus) Planet Earth
Combination of Venus and Mars symbols with an additional "arm"	U + 26A7 ⚧	Another transgender symbol; the third arm represents the transgender.
Mercury symbol	U + 263F ☿	Symbol for a third gender , also for transgender or intersexuality Planet Mercury

Neutrois
description	Unicode characters	meaning
The core of most gender symbols: a circle and a line	U + 26B2 ⚲	Symbol for the Neutrois (desire for the absence of sexual characteristics)
Horizontal crossed Mars symbol	U + 26A9 ⚩	Gender neutrality
Transgender symbol with stroke		Transgender symbol, which includes people without gender identity
Core of the other gender symbols	U + 26AA ⚪	Asexuality , Agender , Genderlessness Neutrois, Intersexuality
Diameter sign / average sign	U + 2300 ø U + 2205 ∅	Neutrois symbol for gender-specific articles Letter Ø , symbols for diameter , average or an empty quantity can also be seen as an androgyny symbol without endings

Androgyny
symbol	description	Unicode characters	meaning
	Combination of Venus, Mars and Sagittarius symbols		Androgyny
	Simplified androgyny symbol	U + 26A8 ⚨	Androgyny

Further
description	Unicode characters	meaning
Venus and Mars symbol	U + 26A4 ⚤	Bisexuality , heterosexuality
Double Venus and double Mars symbols		Bisexuality
Gender symbol with X		non-binary gender identity
Double O		Gender undefined or unknown
Questioning symbol
Transgender symbol with question mark

Gender symbols in genograms

Only the biological sex is shown in a genogram . There is a square for male, a circle for female and a question mark for an unknown gender.

Gender research

In gender research , the term “gender symbols” is also used for symbols of daily life that describe the division of the world of work according to sexual aspects. For example, in the farming division of labor, the tractor symbolizes the farmer in the field whose wife works on the farm. Gender symbols in this sense can only be understood by placing them in the context of a larger system of symbols and meanings. Cultural beliefs, concepts, classifications, and assumptions play a role here.

literature

Ann Olga Koloski-Ostrow, Claire L. Lyons (Eds.): Naked Truths. Women, Sexuality, and Gender in Classical Art and Archeology. Routledge, London a. a. 2000, ISBN 0-415-21752-0 .

Web links

Commons : Gender Symbols - collection of images, videos and audio files

The 3 Transgender symbols (English)
Symbols of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Movements. (No longer available online.) Www.lambda.org, December 26, 2004, archived from the original on October 22, 2014 ; accessed on November 14, 2016 .
More gender symbols (English)
Gender symbols in the Nonbinary.org Wiki (English)
Gender symbols on the website of the "German Society for Transidentity and Intersexuality "

Individual evidence

↑ See also The Origin of the Male and Female Symbols of Biology , William T. Stearn, Taxon, Vol. 11, no. 4 (May 1962), pp. 109-113
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Michael Everson : Second revised proposal to encode symbols for genealogy and gender studies in the UCS. (PDF) Unicode Technical Committee, October 17, 2003, accessed November 14, 2016 . (The special characters suggested here were actually included in Unicode with a code point value increased by 5. )

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h The Unicode Standard - Miscellaneous Symbols. (PDF) Unicode Technical Committee, June 2016, accessed November 14, 2016 .

↑ Transgender Symbol - Where did it come from? www.gendertalk.com, accessed November 14, 2016 .

↑ Anne McMurray, Jill Clendon: Community Health and Wellness. Primary Health Care in Practice. 4th edition. Elsevier Australia, Chatswood NSW 2010, ISBN 978-0-7295-3954-8 , p. 417.

↑ David Morgan, Berit Brandth, Elin Kvande (eds.): Gender, Bodies, and Work. Ashgate Publishing, Aldershot et al. a. 2005, ISBN 0-7546-4439-1 , p. 92.

↑ Sherry B. Ortner, Harriet Whitehead (eds.): Sexual Meanings. The Cultural Construction of Gender and Sexuality. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge u. a. 1981, ISBN 0-521-28375-2 , p. 2.

[1] See also The Origin of the Male and Female Symbols of Biology , William T. Stearn, Taxon, Vol. 11, no. 4 (May 1962), pp. 109-113

[Everson2003-2] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Michael Everson : Second revised proposal to encode symbols for genealogy and gender studies in the UCS. (PDF) Unicode Technical Committee, October 17, 2003, accessed November 14, 2016 . (The special characters suggested here were actually included in Unicode with a code point value increased by 5. )

[Unicode26xx-3] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h The Unicode Standard - Miscellaneous Symbols. (PDF) Unicode Technical Committee, June 2016, accessed November 14, 2016 .

[4] Transgender Symbol - Where did it come from? www.gendertalk.com, accessed November 14, 2016 .

[5] Anne McMurray, Jill Clendon: Community Health and Wellness. Primary Health Care in Practice. 4th edition. Elsevier Australia, Chatswood NSW 2010, ISBN 978-0-7295-3954-8 , p. 417.

[6] David Morgan, Berit Brandth, Elin Kvande (eds.): Gender, Bodies, and Work. Ashgate Publishing, Aldershot et al. a. 2005, ISBN 0-7546-4439-1 , p. 92.

[7] Sherry B. Ortner, Harriet Whitehead (eds.): Sexual Meanings. The Cultural Construction of Gender and Sexuality. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge u. a. 1981, ISBN 0-521-28375-2 , p. 2.