'What is your gender' when they mean 'What is your sex'

34 replies

WhereYouLeftIt · 22/05/2017 21:17

All those interminable forms we have to fill in. Or surveys. Or feedback. And then the data at the end so that they can analyse who responds to them etc. etc. Age. Ethnicity. Gender. Etc., etc.

So this one asked 'What is your gender?', two boxes, Male and Female. I'm in a bad mood anyway, so in the 'Any other comments?' box I asked that they reword the question to 'What is your sex?'.

No wonder people conflate the two words all the time. The words are constantly presented to people as synonyms.

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MrsKCastle · 22/05/2017 21:40

This bugs me as well. I filled in the NHS form for my DDs (5 and 8) to have their flu vaccination and crossed out 'gender' and wrote 'sex' instead.

Although I also think that society should stop putting the question on every damn form. So often it's just not necessary to know what sex someone is.

BillyButtfuck · 22/05/2017 21:33

It gives me the rage too. We had a private scan when I was pregnant and all the paper work came through as Gender Scan, find out the gender and plan your gender reveal

I also have to agree with pps though - it's not hard to see why people do get it wrong from time to time, when so many 'official' forms and documents get it wrong all the time,

NoLoveofMine · 22/05/2017 21:30

If pregnancy cravings are for pink cupcakes covered in sparkles it's a girl. If there's a craving for McCoy's and using barbed wire for a toothbrush it's a boy.

Original poster

WhereYouLeftIt · 22/05/2017 21:27

Thank goodness i don't frequent the pregnancy board then Uiscebeatha85, I'd be screaming. I am a bit of a pedant at the best of times. Plus, how can you guess the baby's sex anyway? Are we meant to be telepathic?

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NoLoveofMine · 22/05/2017 21:25

I agree. I even find myself writing "gender" sometimes when I know I mean "sex" because so often people say or forms ask "gender" as you say. No wonder so many people I know seem to accept being labelled or even label themselves "cis".

Original poster

WhereYouLeftIt · 22/05/2017 21:25

Surely it's only rude because it's avoided? It's so bloody Victorian of us.

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newtlover · 22/05/2017 21:23

you are quite right of course, but 'sex' is a ruuuuuuuuuude word, so best avoided

Uiscebeatha85 · 22/05/2017 21:23

Yep annoying as fuck. Not as annoying as the million and one 'guess my baby's gender' threads in the pregnancy board though 😩

Fairybella · 22/05/2017 21:21

Totally agree it pisses me off

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