Gender and sex

Work In Progress

Gender and sex, terms that could at times be used interchangeably without representing a clear conceptual difference, referred respectively to the social and biological differences between males and females. Or more accurately in the case of gender, masculinity and femininity. However, gender being binary was not a steadfast rule. There were range of identities that did correspond to this binary notion. And in some cases, the sex and gender of an individual did not align.

Biological Sex
Some creatures were noted as being able to switch their sex at a whim., such as kobolds, verdans, and yugoloths. Such creatures lacked assigned gender roles in their societies. And yugoloths only identified as a gender depending upon the situation they were in.

Other creatures were noted as being sexless, such as choldriths, driders, mindflayers, and warforged. Though being sexless biologically did not preclude such creatures from personally identifying in a social sense as one. Warforged for example were known to adopt and identify as certain genders. Choldriths chose to identify as female, in reverence to their goddess Lolth. In rare circumstances a creature that had underwent ceremorphosis might retain enough of their memories to identify as their former gender.

Some species creatures were "hermaphroditic", biologically both male and female. These included aboleths, haundar, leeches and giant leeches, lock lurkers, mortiss, piercers, starsnakes, tentamorts, webbirds, and wingless wonders. Nagas were another hermaphroditic species, though other creatures tended to view them as being either male or female.

Gender and Society
For most societies in the Realms, there was no bias of role on the basis of sex or gender. Many societies tended to have women to occupy a domestic role, though people exhibited little to no resistance when a woman chose to occupy a position of leadership or sought to become a proficient magic-user. Though (depending on the species) some professions were more common among certain sexes due to the body weight and strength that was involved, such as smithing.

Cultures where there was equality among the sexes looked down upon those who believed one should oppress the other.

Clothing

 * Abas were worn by all members of Bedine tribes, though women were made to cover their faces, with the exception of when alone with themselves or their spouse. The wearing of a veil for women in these tribes began at the onset of puberty, though sometimes earlier. An exception to this was the tribes that dwelled in the eastern central stretches of the Sword, as among them women went without veils and men covered their faces with scarves.
 * Some races in the Realms, such as the arctic dwarves, lythari, and wild dwarves had a similar manner of dress regardless of sex.
 * In Mulmaster people often expected women to wear the skimpier fashions of warmer lands. To compensate for this, women wore huge fur and silk under-robes lined with cotton.
 * Shield dwarf women, especially if burly and bearded, often dressed and acted like males when outdoors in human cities as it tended to garner them better treatment than visibly female dwarves.
 * Women in Zakhara generally wore veils, especially in settlements, while those in regions controlled by Moralists commonly wore full-body robes known as chador. A few tribes went so far as to have women hide their features behind dark, heavy masks.

Languages

 * Ti was a genderless term in Thieves' cant that could refer to a man, woman, or other.
 * The holy warriors, outcast thieves, nomadic bards, and idol priests of Zakhara were generally known by the gender-neutral Midani terms faris, matrud, rawun, and kahin respectively. Though there did exist less commonly used, feminine versions for each in the form of farisa, matruda, rawuna, and kahina.

Titles of Address
There were a variety of titles used to refer to people regardless of their gender. These included the following:
 * The druid, warlock, and wizard forms of spellcaster were all typically referred to by those titles regardless of their sex or gender. With "wizardess" only being used in ancient titles. Though it was not uncommon for people to see a female sorcerer referred to as a "sorceress".
 * When someone addressed a wizard of uncertain skill they used the term "Master of the Art" regardless of their sex or gender. While those known to be of a low skill were referred to as hedge wizards.
 * The title of "Grand Duke" among the Council of Four in Baldur's Gate was a genderless honorific.
 * The Red Wizards were addressed by the people of Thay as "Master" regardless of their sex.

Religions
Deities were typically portrayed or believed by their followers to be male, female, or sexless. For example, all the major deities of the Halfling pantheon were female. And the gnome deity Urdlen was a sexless god, but often referred to as a he. Deities themselves often preferred one gender over others, but could manifest as any. Even Lolth could be seen manifesting as either sex.

Elves (with the exception of drow) often looked down upon those who believed their god to be of only one sex, viewing it as narrow mindset to quantify gods in mortal terms. In turn, all members of the Elven pantheon were represented in art by both male and female forms. For example, in Cormanthor, there were statues of the Seldarine in either both their male and female forms or in a single androgynous form.

When it came to clergy, most religions allowed individuals of any sex to become members, though some only allowed those of a particular sex. When it came to the Dwarven faith for example, only men could be priests of male gods and women the priests of female gods. And in the nation of Wa, monasteries generally only allowed men, with Nakamura being a notable exception to this rule.

Faiths generally used the word "priest" as a gender-neutral term, while "priestess" was used when a clergy consisted of only women, and when addressing a cleric of uncertain rank people would use the terms "Avowed" or "Devout." The Church of Deneir was one such faith to use the term "priest" regardless of gender. Specialty priests more often had gendered terms, though some churches had genderless ones. Such as the Dreadmasters of the Church of Bane, the Doommasters of the Church of Beshaba, the Joybringers of the Church of Lliira, and the Stormlords of the Church of Talos.

Some churches, while allowing a mix of genders in their clergy, had segregated ceremonies. For example, the Church of Lolth performed private ceremonies behind closed doors in which men were not allowed, but its public ceremonies allowed both men and women. In that female dominated society, the Church of Vhaeraun stood out as advocates of the drow creating a society of equality between the sexes on the surface. Others had women live in separate quarters, such as the Strong Claw Monastery, or in entirely separate buildings or temples, such as the Moralist faith.

Some faiths had priestly vestments differ depending upon a priest's sex. For example, the Church of Sune had men wear robes and women wear habits, both dyed crimson. While the Church of Beshaba had male priests wear robes of crimson and female priests wear robes of black, mauve, and purple.

Some individual Wu-jen believed that they couldn't sleep within of a member of the opposite sex. Lamas, the religious leaders of the Plain of Horses, could be either male or female. Though in the city of Li-Raz, who sought to curb the growth of lamas, encoded in their laws that a male lama could not speak to women in public.