hidden way; but it is surely more appropriate to express that opinion as a separate proposition and debate it as such rather than to ensconce it in a definition. For the purposes of this essay, sex on the physical level involves those bodily structures and functions whose specific roles are essentially related to procreation, what may be called “primary sex characteristics”. Anatomically this includes male and female genital organs, and glands and parts of the nervous system specifically involved in sexual intercourse, and those female organs, glands and parts of the nervous system specifically involved in gestation. Physiologically this definition of sex includes the functioning of the above bodily parts along with those pleasurable sensations that are proper to them.48 Secondary physical sex characteristics include those physical differences between males and females that are not directly involved in reproduction – such differences as mammary glands of women and facial hair in males. The definition of sex needs to extend beyond the physical to include personal aspects, "personal" meaning that they involve specifically human cognition and appetite. It is on this level that people most disagree about what is to be included under the definition. For our purposes, sex on the personal level includes all those personal actions or attributes (other than speculative knowledge) that can be properly understood only with reference to physical sex.49 What this includes may be a matter for dispute, and at any rate will require further examination. II. SEX AND RESPONSIBILITY 1. the notion of responsibility
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For some purposes it is helpful to include all physical differences between the sexes within the definition of physical sex – including so-called secondary sexual characteristics (e.g., female breasts, male facial hair), but that doesn’t seem to be necessary for our purposes here. 49 To classify the speculative study of sex as sexual activity would produce an unhelpful definition. When medical researchers study the anatomy or physiology of human sexuality, their work is distinguished from other research by its relation to physical sex but it is not sexual activity according to "common sense" thoughts about the subject.
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