"What is sex?" Mr. Piacintini asked our ninth grade class. It was a rhetorical question, but no one dared answer. Instead we rolled our eyes at each other.

"I have sex!" he declared proudly. He was built like a fireplug, and was ancient--at least forty. We snickered. He meant that he had gender, he had sexuality, and was trying to introduce some concept to us that sex is innate in each person, that it's not just an act performed between people, but something that belonged independently to each being.

After thirty-five years I swear that's the only thing I remember from ninth gr4ade biology.

What is sex? The more I live the less I know.