To think that MN has become infested...

[BetweenDogandWolf]

...with people who don't understand the difference between gender and sex?

I like that Methe, good description

Still don't understand the difference

Some of the threads about transgender people really blow your mind. Female penis?

Equal in the sense of being free from limiting stereotypes (and yes, that applies to race, disability, age and a host of other things that aren't characteristics protected by law).

There are genuine differences based on sex.

And there are those based on gender (ie the social constructs of what roles are assigned to the sexes other than genuine sex differences). And they tend to be unfair.

This reminds me of the what/pardon debate. In RL no one cares.

Gender is in your head
Sex is in your pants
Attraction is in your heart

I find that in RL no one cares about most of the stuff on MN which is treated with dire importance.

In rl this does not matter.

An infestation. Pests and parasites, those people who make mistakes.

Probably better to kindly correct people when they slip up, rather than call Rentokil.

It does really annoy me when on tv/irl people mix up sex and gender.
They usually mean sex but say gender. Is it the British prudishness at not wanting to say a word that has that other meaning?

In real life for my family and lots of families that I know, this actually matters a huge amount.

Just because it's not a factor in your world it doesn't mean it doesn't matter at all.

As I already stated, this was not intended as a TAAT as it was several posters who inspired it. But as it looks like one I've asked MNHQ to delete it (they've declined due to the 'positive response') and I apologised to the guy on the other thread.

In RL, to some people, it does matter.

Goodnight!

Sex is what's bwtween your legs gender is what's between your ears
This is fab. I'd use it, except my regular discussions about the sex of various mammals (the context in which I correct sex .v. gender) sometimes stray into intersex conditions, and some smartarse would point that out.

In RL this does matter a lot to some people.

And in many contexts, it is an important issue, mini.

But on mumsnet it always, always, comes up because someone has started a thread being all excited about their baby and used the wrong word.

When discussing what toys boys/girl should be allowed to play with, it's impprtant. When discussing how people choose to self identify, it's important. When picking someone apart because they've asked you to guess the "gender" of their unborn baby, it's pedantry.

I'd disagree because if you dont point out when it's used incorrectly then people keep using it in that way hence why gender reveal parties are now named such further propagating the idea.

If the op posts about her baby scan and uses gender, gets it pointed to her that it is sex and the the next 100 posts are all 'its gender' rather then responding to her post, yes thats annoying and unneeded since it's been pointed out. That doesn't mean it shouldn't be pointed in thr first place.

If people don't point out then more and more the word is misused and soon everyone is using it incorrectly.

I know what the difference is but I don't think it matters...

I only found out what the difference was a couple of years ago (from studying social sciences, not from MN). I'm 48 years old and well educated, but there is no one in my family or circle of friends who identifies as anything other than their biological sex. I would hazard a guess that there are an awful lot of people out there in the same situation. By all means tell us, it is important to be aware, but the rude, patronising tone of some posters on MN lecturing anyone who innocently asks about the gender of an unknown baby is not doing the mission for awareness and equality any favours at all.

genuine question here, but if Gender is a social construct, why is 'trans-gender' the accepted term by those in the LGBT community?

Surely if gender is as gender does then there's no trans?

Kato, I find the whole 'LGBT' terminology problematical tbh.

Trans is the preferred term used by my husband's friend who is currently transitioning?

Pretending that there is no difference between 'well meant but not familiar with' and 'wilfully ignorant and offensive' always reeks of stirring imo.

Someone mixes up gender and sex with me, 99 times out of 100 it's NOTHING to do with any deepseated harmful ideas. It's a mistake. Sometimes I mention it to them, sometimes I don't, depends if mentioning it would make them feel awkward. It's not like how you still get people using 'gay' to mean 'crap' which does get pulled up every time. It's two non-weighted words, neither is derogatory, just different. Life is really way too short.

Agree with pp about tumblr creep. Annoying.

And also other pps about 'infested'. You want to get funny about words, well, there's a starter for 10.

So if gender is related to the persons behaviour and based on their social construct etc why is there such a thing as gender reassignment surgery?

How does that work?

Yeah, I was going to say you can't have gender with a member of the opposite gender.

Good question, writer.

It's basically alligning their sexual organs to their already existing gender.