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BBC news article talks about the "gender" of horses

35 replies

BlueBrush · 19/07/2020 09:19

Another example of confusing sex and gender. Good that this BBC article acknowledges biological sex...albeit in horses. But then refers to the gender of the horse. The BBC just aren't getting it, are they?

A Suffolk Punch foal is the first in the UK to have been born using technology to determine its gender.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-shropshire-53446927

OP posts:
NearlyGranny · 19/07/2020 10:01

So how did Auntie Beeb determine what gender feelz the horse experiences and identifies with - get Dr Doolittle in?

OnAPar · 19/07/2020 10:00

Gender was invented by Victorian’s to mean sexist stereotypes.
Being British, we didn’t like saying sex, so used gender. Growing up nobody used sex, only gender, to mean sex. Plenty still use gender like this. The meaning of gender is now similar to the Victorian definition, only worse as it’s so rigid it now changes your DNA, where you should get changed and whether you enter women’s or men’s sports, your eligibility for women’s places in political parties and awards.

Destroyedpeople · 19/07/2020 09:50

I think 'gender' started to be used on forms to avoid 'comedians' putting 'yes please' to 'sex'.
Now a lot of people with jobs are a bit thick and don't see the difference. If a pp got a blank look from her cat..we would get the same with charity executives.

Definitelyrandom · 19/07/2020 09:45

Having just had to take out pet insurance, it grated hugely each time I was getting a quote when I had to say whether my dog’s gender was male or female. If any of them had asked for the sex, they’d have had my business.

Iamhangingin · 19/07/2020 09:32

I have actually been noticing the word sex used in news articles, DM had something this weekend about a popstar having friends of the same sex - Katie Pery? So I think some journalists get it and are specific words. I thought it was a strange but correct turn of phrase to use.

wellbehavedwomen · 19/07/2020 09:25

I honestly think 'gender' was originally adopted because people felt awkward about using the word 'sex'. I remember Ruth Bader Ginsberg saying her admin had suggested it, because she said every time a judge (all of them men, at the time) read the word sex he'd be distracted, so why not replace it with gender instead. There'd be a greater focus on the actual law, if she did.

At this point, lots of people just feel that gender is more polite. They don't realise, mostly, that the two now have distinct meanings.

BaronessWrongCrowd · 19/07/2020 09:25

I remember when the cats protection league asked me my cat's gender was a survey. I asked him what his innate gender identity was but he stared at me then walked off.

I assume it is Supreme Being Master of All. Alas I'll never know. So I marked him down as male.

ErrolTheDragon · 19/07/2020 09:24

Thus not this

ErrolTheDragon · 19/07/2020 09:24

Unfortunately, the use of 'gender' as a euphemism for 'sex' is widespread, predating (and this inadvertently enabling) the current obsession with the former and denial of the latter.

BaronessBollyKnickers · 19/07/2020 09:20

So...is it a unicorn?

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