i. Organisation
Covers any public or private business, association, business legal entity, government department or group including sporting organisation, charitable groups and incorporations. For this document, an organisation is any entity that requests personal
information from an individual.
ii. Sex and Gender.
Sex and gender can best be defined by contrasting different aspects of the other.
“Nature produces human diversity in all manner of physiological manifestations: short, tall, pale, darkskinned, hairy, bald and so on. In relation to sexing human beings many physiologists, biologists and microbiologists understand that sex is a not a bipolar option of either male or female but a collage of many different characteristics such as genetics, gonads, reproductive organs, breast tissue, musculature, stature, brain features and hormonal activation.
Some people have both a mixture of male and female physical characteristics. Other people may have medical conditions that mean they are unable fulfil the absolute stereotypical physiological male or female criteria. They become a diverse variation on the physical sex theme, therefore intersex or sex diverse
(O'Keefe, Tracie, Sex Gender and Sexuality: 21st Century Transformations. Extraordinary People Press, London 1999.)
This definition highlights that the traditional Male/Female constructs are not sufficient in accurately specifying an individuals sex.
Gender is a social construct not a physiological feature. One acts out gender in a performance of
behavioural social interpretations of what may be considered stereotypically masculine or feminine.
There is much confusion with health professionals and the public concerning the difference between sex
and gender and for accuracy they cannot be used interchangeably. People act out their gender
performance in degrees of femininity, masculinity, androgyny or neuter interpretations (Money, 1986).
To use a feminist analogy, 'One is not born with a gender, one adopts an agenda. (Money, John, Venuses
Penuses: Sexology Sexosophy and Exigency Theory. Prometheus books, New York, 1986.)”
(Sex and/or Gender Diverse People and the Death of Transgender as an Umbrella Term, OKeefe, Tracie, 2010)
Most organisations when requesting information from an individual regarding sex, actually require gender. A medical organisation might require information about an individuals sex for the purpose of medical treatment. Some sporting organisations based on their associative rules might require knowledge of the sex of the individual. The Olympic committee has guidelines for determining the sex of a person participating. In most cases the decision of the sex of the individual is deferred to a qualified medical expert. Most sporting organisations have implemented their own guidelines regarding the
requirement for requesting the sex of an individual taking into account whether an incorrectly sexed individual would have undue advantage competing in that sport.
What is important to note is that the cultural history of sex and gender typically limits and enforces the two traditional values of Male and Female (M and F). Scientifically, medically and legally this is not a valid assumption one can make. An equally valid and third choice is X, sometimes referred to as indeterminate, maybe unknown or as individuals might stipulate, “I don't want you to know”.
This last point is quite an important consideration that must be made. Unless there is a legal mandate indicating accurate information must be provided, individuals are not required to provide this information, even when asked for it. Organisations must factor this response into account. The widespread accepted view from the Gen X is that organisations knowing my sex or gender might discriminate against me, has led many to lie about it when asked or refuse to provide it.
SGD
Sex and/or gender diverse (SGD) people are made up from many differing groups including people who are intersex, transexed, transsexual, transgendered, androgynous, without sex and gender identity, cross dressers and people with sex and gender culturally specific differences. They are people who experience variations in physical presentation and social behaviour that is other than stereotypically male or female. Each group may have its own physical, psychological, social, legal and political issues that may not necessarily relate to any of the other groups.
iii. Title
Title also referred to as salutation, is “the word or phrase of greeting (as Gentlemen or Dear Sir or Madam) that conventionally comes immediately before the body of a letter.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/salutation
As most people are not familiar with term salutation, title is used instead. Traditional values of title include:
. Mr
. Mrs
. Ms
. Miss
Title can infer gender (e.g. Mr, Ms), it can also infer marital status (e.g. Mrs). With a title such as Dr, neither gender nor marital status can be inferred. In some countries some titles are legally protected (e.g. Sir). Only those that have been officially appointed these titles have the rights to use them. Sir though has a double meaning in that it is protected if one uses as part of their name (e.g. Sir John Smith), but can be used in correspondence to address a party generically (e.g. Dear Sir, …)
For the purpose of this document, title is not the title as used in a greeting, but rather what one uses to help identify a person when they are asked to enter in information describing themselves. A form on a screen might ask for title, name and address. An organisation can then make use of this information when addressing correspondence to them, in particular as part of an address (e.g. To Ms Jane Doe).
Historic and cultural conventions initially limited the use of title to Mr, Mrs and Miss. The use of title is fluid and subject to cultural trends (e.g. Ms is now more popular) and in the next twenty years the use of title is likely to change based largely on the impact of internet trends. For a number of people their preference is to not use a title at all. Its also realistic that some people would like to assign themselves their own title. Its important organisations are prepared to handle this eventuality.
iv. Name
A name is used to traditionally culturally identify an individual. Names are not unique. A name can be composed of one or more words, and in some recent memorable cases even special symbols. Traditionally, most countries support the concept of a first name and last name, with an option to provide a middle name or initial. Again the combination of these values is not
guaranteed to be unique. In combination with an address, the value can be seen to be unique, but still there can be exceptions. Multiple family members living in the same household can share the same first and last name and are distinguished by an additional value like senior or junior.
Asian countries can have completely different rules regarding name. Most for convenience provide English language equivalents. Some are phonetic equivalents, others can be completely alternate names. Numerous Chinese internet users have both a Chinese name and alternate name for use in English based computer systems. In the 1990's as the internet started to grow it was apparent that most couldn't handle Chinese characters, so if a Chinese internet user wanted to buy a product or access a social network they needed to use an English name.
It's thus important to consider that people can have two names. A preferred name which they want to be referred to as, and a legal name. A book company might sign a contract with the author Christine Smith, but the preferred name that the author uses on the book might be Chris Smyth.
The legal name is typically protected and defined within law and initially reflects the name as supplied on the birth certificate. Most countries allow the legal changing of a name, and traditionally in western culture when a woman marries a man she will take on the surname of her husband. When an individual initiates a contract with an organisation they will need to provide
their legal name. A number of organisations will require the legal name to establish identity. A bank will need the legal name when opening an account. When establishing a credit card the legal name will be required in the legal paperwork, but the preferred name can be displayed on the card. These guidelines are based on the defined security requirements of the bank. When a customer makes an online order, their preferred name is more likely going to be used.
To establish friendly customer relations, its best to use the preferred name rather than the legal name especially if the two dramatically differ.
v. Individual, customers, persons
These three terms are used within this document and all of them refer to the same base concept. That of a human being. The core term being individual. A customer implies a commercial relationship between an individual and an organisation. A person implies a specific kind of manifestation of an individual (e.g. a chair person). The three terms are used interchangeably but are there to add context to the definition.