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while i think it's great that there's now an option besides "male" and "female" (seeing as it's optional; i think it would definitely be bad if intersex and transsexual people were forced to identify as "other" and check that box if they didn't want to), it frustrates me when the words "sex" and "gender" are used interchangeably.
example: the title of the article is "India's third gender gets own identity in voter rolls," and the article writes, "But now, they will have the choice to tick 'O' -- for others -- when indicating their gender in voter forms, the Indian election commission said in a statement." however, there is a quote from an election official stating that "Enumerators and booth-level officers (BLOs) shall be instructed to indicate the sex of eunuchs/transsexuals etc as 'O' if they so desire." also, the terms "eunuch" and "transsexual" usually refer more to sex than to gender.
don't get me wrong; i think this is a really big step forward. it's just one of my pet peeves, if you will, when people take "sex" and "gender" to mean the same thing.