title: Storing sex (gender) in database
body: <p>I want to store a user's gender in a database with as little (size/performance) cost as possible.</p>
  
  <p>So far, 3 scenarios come to mind</p>
  
  <ol>
  <li><strong>Int</strong> - <em>aligned with Enum in code (1 = Male, 2 = Female, 3 = ...)</em></li>
  <li><strong>char(1)</strong> - <em>Store <strong>m</strong>, <strong>f</strong> or another single character identifier</em></li>
  <li><strong>Bit</strong> <em>(boolean)</em> - <em>is there an appropriate field name for this option?</em></li>
  </ol>
  
  <p>The reason I ask is because of this <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/204256/why-use-boolean-instead-of-char/204261#204261">answer</a> which mentions that <strong>chars</strong> are <em>smaller</em> than <strong>booleans</strong>.</p>
  
  <p>I should clarify that I'm using MS SQL 2008, which <strong>DOES</strong> in fact have the bit datatype.</p>