Our research investigated variation in how individuals define 6 gender/sex categories (woman, man, feminine, masculine, female, and male). Evidence suggests that, contemporary understandings of gender/ sex are less static and less binary than they have been in the past. However, questions remain about exactly how diverse these understandings are, how that diversity might be reflected in how people define and use gender/sex-related language, and whether understandings of gender/sex are linked to social location, particularly gender/sex or sexual minority/majority status. To further explore how individuals understand gender/sex categories, we administered a brief online survey to a sample diverse by gender/sex and sexual minority/majority status (N ϭ 307) in which participants provided their own definitions of the 6 aforementioned gender/sex terms. We coded participants' definitions for a range of sociocultural and biological content, and for how complex each definition was. We found that participants defined feminine/masculine primarily with sociocultural content, female/male primarily with biological content, and woman/man with intermediate amounts of each, notably contrasting popular perceptions of female/male and woman/man as interchangeable. Cisgender sexual majority individuals included more biological content and less sociocultural content in their definitions of woman/man and female/male than transgender individuals. Cisgender individuals also had less complex definitions of woman/man than transgender individuals. We concluded that contemporary understandings of gender/sex exhibit a degree of heterogeneity that is partially structured by social location via sexuality and gender/sex. Public Significance StatementOur research showed that people define "woman" and "man" using both biological and sociocultural content, but define "feminine" and "masculine" with mostly sociocultural content, and define "female" and "male" using mostly biological content. And, people defined these categories with differing content and levels of complexity depending on their own gender identities and sexual orientations.

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Gender and sex diversity exist in humans, but are often seen as too complex for scientists to incorporate beyond a female/male binary or placement on single dimensions. Here, we demonstrate a novel method for assessing and visualizing diverse gender/sexes using diagrams adapted from sexual configurations theory (SCT; van Anders, 2015). We asked participants (N ϭ 242) with diverse gender/sex identities to locate their genders, sexes, and gender/sexes (i.e., "gender/sex configurations") by marking and writing on SCT's diagrams via an online platform. Results showed that visualizing gender/sex (a) demonstrated the complexity underlying seemingly simple gender/sexes such as "woman" and "man," and (b) provided a way to systematically describe seemingly complex gender/sexes. These findings suggest that SCT visualizations provide a way for people of diverse gender/sex identities and experiences to represent the fullness and complexity of their gender/sexes in ways that can help create a more inclusive psychological science. This article is Part 1 of a 2-part report, and Part 2 explores the ways participants reacted to and perceived SCT and this novel survey (Beischel, Schudson, & van Anders, 2021). Public Significance StatementWe demonstrate a new way of visualizing gender, sex, and gender/sex via sexual configurations theory (SCT) that reveals insights into the complex nature of gender/sex categories. Our findings indicate that SCT may be a useful tool for researchers, educators, and clinicians who study and work with gender/sex diversity.

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Critiques of gender/sex measurement tend to focus on the questions researchers ask, including their binaristic, static nature, or overfocus on/erasure of transgender/cisgender status. The questions matter, as does the way gender/sex responses may be categorized, which has received less focus. In this article, we report on the "Gender/Sex 333," which we developed via two studies to produce a novel framework for conceptualizing, measuring, and categorizing gender/sex. It represents two intersecting dimensions: "gender trajectory" (cisgender/transgender/allogender [i.e., neither cisgender nor transgender]) and "binary relation" (binary/nonbinary/allobinary [i.e., neither binary nor nonbinary]). In Study 1, we created gender/sex questions structured by the Gender/Sex 333 and asked 737 gender/sex-diverse participants to directly evaluate them. Descriptive quantitative feedback indicated the comprehensibility and inclusivity of the questions; qualitative feedback suggested wording changes. In Study 2, we tested these revised questions with 317 gender/sex-diverse participants and again found high levels of comprehensibility and inclusivity. We conclude by providing recommendations for questions about gender/sex that are inclusive of all nine locations in the Gender/Sex 333 and useful for flexible categorizations of gender/sexes. Public Significance StatementWe present the Gender/Sex 333, a new framework for measuring and categorizing diverse gender/ sexes. This framework and the gender/sex questions we recommend can potentially be used in any survey that seeks to inclusively assess people's gender/sexes.