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Original poster

Scientific paper using 'gender' where they mean 'sex'

46 replies

OddBoots · 05/05/2015 07:07

I'm just a student not a scientist but I read a lot of papers. I was very surprised this week to read through PubMed an abstract of a epigenetics paper that referred to gender-specific markers in embryos.

Would it be really petty of me to email the publishers? I have been mulling it for a couple of days and it has really surprised and concerned me that scientists would get it wrong.

OP posts:
YonicScrewdriver · 05/05/2015 17:03

Jackie, it doesn't seem like that's the case here. NotCitrus has specified how the words can be used to signify two different things in biological science.

Jackieharris · 05/05/2015 14:11

Yes, it shows how bad things have got that even scientists don't know their sex from their gender!

Alice- I've often seen 'black British' on equal opps forms

BuffyNeverBreaks · 05/05/2015 10:54

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AliceAnneB · 05/05/2015 10:28

The one that does always bother me is race. Everywhere else in the world you choose (white/black/Asian etc.) but in the UK the choices are (white British/white other/black etc). Since when did nationality become a race?! None of the other races have a British option. You can't be Black British. Only white British. How that one persists is beyond me!

AliceAnneB · 05/05/2015 10:08

I always use gender/sex in a differentiated way when I'm speaking but for medical writing I don't. I think these things need to be discussed and agreed before people just start changing them. The medical text books still say use gender. From my point of view, differentiating between gender/sex in an article that is focusing on spinal instrumentation isn't that big a deal. No one reading the article is left wondering how the patients identify their sexual orientation. It's irrelevant. They just need the factual demographic info.

NotCitrus · 05/05/2015 07:51

To add - the take from the lab next to mine where they worked on sex, was that there's at least 15 different sexes in mice and humans, so obviously brain-gender will be complex, but that's not our subject.

BuffyNeverBreaks · 05/05/2015 07:42

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squishysquashy · 05/05/2015 07:40

IIRC 10 years ago when I was a copy editor for a few life sciences journals my 'style sheet' included changing gender to sex. I did work for a very highly regarded publishing house though Wink

AliceAnneB · 05/05/2015 07:39

I've written medical journal papers for the last 15 years and I've always used gender/sex interchangeably. Even the validated health questionnaires ask for gender not sex . It's not a distinction that would make a jot of difference to most medical publications.

NotCitrus · 05/05/2015 07:38

In developmental biology, gender is used relating to chromosomes etc, and sex-specific to the process of having sex or the sexual organs, but not exclusively.

BuffyNeverBreaks · 05/05/2015 07:38

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TheFallenMadonna · 05/05/2015 07:37

You'd need a big shift! Just did a quick google scholar search for gender specific markers, and there are LOADS of hits.

TheFallenMadonna · 05/05/2015 07:34

In the sciences, sex does mean gender.

BuffyNeverBreaks · 05/05/2015 07:34

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YonicScrewdriver · 05/05/2015 07:34

For embryos, I'm slightly surprised but it's pretty common to use gender when people mean (biological) sex in order that you don't think they mean (intercourse) sex.

I wish the usage wasn't interchangeable though.

BuffyNeverBreaks · 05/05/2015 07:31

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TheFallenMadonna · 05/05/2015 07:30

I really don't think it undermines their paper.

scaevola · 05/05/2015 07:27

I would email and ask.

If it's the correct usage, they'll explain why.

If, as seems likely from your OP, it's not, then they need to know that it undermines their paper.

TheFallenMadonna · 05/05/2015 07:26

I think it's in social sciences where there is a distinction between sex and gender. In biological sciences, they seem to be used interchangeably.

MurielWoods · 05/05/2015 07:20

It means the same thing though surely and 'gender-specific' flows more easily off the tongue whereas 'sex-specific' is a bit of a mouthful Grin

Could you copy some of the content here so that we can see the context?

By all means contact the author of the paper though, I'm sure that they won't mind and will probably be more than happy to engage/discuss Smile

EhricLovesTheBhrothers · 05/05/2015 07:18

Why not email them and ask for clarification? I would.

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