I just filled out a survey for a professional organization of which I am a member. In the section that asked about my gender, there were three boxes I could choose: male, female, transgender.

I’ve never seen that on a survey before, and I think it’s very cool. However, the use of “male” and “female” to indicate gender still bothers me. The question should either be about sex (with response categories “male” “female” and I suppose “transexual”) or it should be about gender (with response categories “masculine” “feminine” and “transgender”).

However, I’m told by my colleagues who design survey instruments that respondents routinely refuse to answer the question when it is phrased in either of these two ways (and, of course, it’s not always clear what the second question means) — which is why the hybrid form gets onto surveys .

I suppose that makes sense, but it always confuses me.