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Original poster

When did people stop saying "sex" and start saying "gender"?

61 replies

drspouse · 06/09/2018 10:59

Just that really.
I am meaning when they started using it to mean "men and women" rather than when did the term "gender" emerge to refer to sex stereotyped roles etc.
Does anyone know if there's anything interesting/scholarly written about this (though I'd also be interested to know if anyone remembers being specifically told to use the term, or if they have seen a change through their working life)?
I cannot remember what was standard practice when I was younger (I'm early 50s) or if there was a change though my vague memory is that things used to say "sex: m/f".

OP posts:
bigKiteFlying · 06/09/2018 11:32

I get the impression it's a recent thing.

i do to and I keep now hearing people talk as if they are inter changable.

Though I think gender pay gap rather than sex pay gap has been around quite a while.

silentcrow · 06/09/2018 11:31

I'm not convinced it's British prudishness - I've no evidence, but it's always seemed more like an American thing to me. It would be interesting to track the word usage there too. Isn't there a Google tool that traces word popularity over time? I bet you see a spike in 2010 or thereabouts.

MistOnTheWater · 06/09/2018 11:27

I've always thought that the use of 'Gender' on forms and suchlike was because people were writing 'Yes please' and 'More' when asked about sex.

Yvaine1 · 06/09/2018 11:21

same as moveablefeast - no recollection at all in 70s and 80s.
Might be a developed British prudishness re sex. Or something more sinister.

Movablefeast · 06/09/2018 11:17

When I was a child in the 70s and 80s I don't remember us EVER hearing the word gender and having discussions about gender as apposed to sex. We all know they are different, it just seems the whole emphasis on gender came later, more from mid 90s onwards. In everyday convos I mean.

UpstartCrow · 06/09/2018 11:15

I get the impression it's a recent thing. The first few times I heard people use it in relation to their baby, I just assumed they were being prudish about using the word 'sex'.

BevBrook · 06/09/2018 11:15

I think with my children they say gender instead of sex a/ because that is the word used at school and b/ because they don't want to say sex, which they know is a word with other meanings. Like they don't like saying "bloody" even when it is an adjective ("the bloody handkerchief") rather than a (not very sweary IMO) swear word.

BevBrook · 06/09/2018 11:13

I think they are taught at school. My DS aged eight says gender all the time when he means sex. Although sometimes he says gender when he means gender.

reallybadidea · 06/09/2018 11:08

The Wikipedia entry on it is quite interesting en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender although I don't know how accurate it is.

In my experience (science and healthcare) gender and sex are often used interchangeably, but not for any woke/PC reason AFAI can tell.

Original poster
drspouse · 06/09/2018 11:04

I know they are. Do you really think I don't know they are? Look where I'm posting.

But we are being asked to say "gender: male or female" all the time now.

People talk about what "gender" their baby will be and have "gender reveal" and "gender disappointment".

They talk about "gender based violence". "Gender discrimination".

It's not all TRAs. It's society in general and I want to know when it started.

OP posts:
cheesefield · 06/09/2018 11:02

Sex and gender are two different things.