What is the difference between the term "sex" and the term "gender"?
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AB-BrazenGirl
ANSWERS: 3
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Sex has several meanings, and one of them is "gender". Some people use the word gender to elminate ambiguity about what they mean. An old joke makes this ambiguity apparent: A nurse is taking down basic information from a new patient, over the phone. Nurse: Name? Patient: Pat Smith N: Age? P: 33 N: Sex? P: Yes, please! Other people prefer "gender" because they find it more 'neutral' or 'academic' than "sex".
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In some academic fields (psychology, sociology) the terms have a different meaning. Sex refers to the biological differences: sex organs, chromosomes, hormones, etc. Gender refers to cultural and societal differences between the sexes. It's about the roles that people of a certain sex have, or are expected to have. E.g., guys having to take the first step after flirting, women staying at home to take care of the kids, shaving legs (expected of women, not of men), those are all gender issues. A rule of thumb: sex is male or female, while gender is masculine or feminine.
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Sex refers to the biological make-up of an individual i.e. hormones, chromosomes (XX or XY) along with the physical act of 'having' it. Gender refers to femininity and masculinity as socially defined. Gender can include your personal 'gender identity' (if you feel masculine or feminine inside), 'gender roles' (how society assigns roles to an individual based on their sex) i.e. in Western Society a feminine gender role may be to be caring and nurturing towards infants, whereas a male gender role may be to be aggressive when protecting you family. Our 'gender role behaviour' is basically how we act out those roles that society has given us.
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