Sex and gender are distinct variables critical to health: Comment on Hyde, Bigler, Joel, Tate, and van Anders (2019).

In this brief comment on Hyde, Bigler, Joel, Tate, and van Anders (2019), we maintain that sex and gender are distinct variables that impact human health in critical ways both individually and interactively. In the life sciences, sex is defined by how an organism is organized with respect to reproduction. Among humans, reproduction requires the union of two distinct gametes.