Skip to main content
Cross Validated

You are not logged in. Your edit will be placed in a queue until it is peer reviewed.

We welcome edits that make the post easier to understand and more valuable for readers. Because community members review edits, please try to make the post substantially better than how you found it, for example, by fixing grammar or adding additional resources and hyperlinks.

3
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ This clearly isn't the "real" answer to the question (perhaps this is more of a comment than an answer), but the mnemonic is clearly one that a lot of people find useful. $\endgroup$ Commented Feb 20, 2016 at 20:19
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ More "biological" than "anatomical", I was taught (though I suspect the "reason" was invented in retrospect, rather than being the original) that 0 is used for female as it's the "default" sex - the belief being that in embryological development, the female pathway is taken unless intervening processes push the embryo to differentiate down the male pathway. This was once a widespread belief, but is now considered outdated: the female pathway also needs to be actively triggered. $\endgroup$ Commented Feb 20, 2016 at 20:23
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ In this case, shouldn't men be coded as "00". $\endgroup$ Commented Feb 21, 2016 at 2:29