JaeThe State Department began including sex markers on passports in 1977, a change government officials attributed to the rise of unisex fashion and hair styles.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/07/us/transgender-americans-lawsuit-trump-passports.html
“Gender-bending fashion made it harder for border officials to identify someone as male or female,” said Craig Robertson, a professor of communication studies at Northeastern University who wrote a book about the history of the American passport. “I sometimes joke David Bowie caused M/F sex markers to be added to the passport.”
Aiden Fox Ivey@me That is crazy. I assumed gender markers existed since passports existed. I had heard people call for removing gender markers before - since they aren’t really a “measurable” attribute, but I didn’t realize that this was not a radical idea.
Leon Bambrick@me I feel like tabloid journalists at the time were relieved that they found an easy rhyme with “gender” and “bender” otherwise they would’ve had to make a term like “sexy-flexy” (just random Friday thoughts). Lots of love to youuuuu.
Eric LawtonWhy do border officials need to identify people someone as male or female?
Mre. Dartigen [maker mode]@EricLawton @me Exactly. There's a photo right there if they need to know what someone looks like, and that's way more useful than a gender marker.