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Original poster

Why use gender when you mean Sex ?

215 replies

Parsley1234 · 20/07/2023 21:25

Why do people ask the gender of their baby or have gender reveal parties ? The correct question is what sex is my baby or maybe I’m just getting totally fed up of woke nonsense.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
8
Charlotteowensdodgydad · 20/07/2023 23:40

@parsley meant to say a transwoman with a beard. Even male nurses have to ask consent and most would be very reluctant to give intimate care without a chaperone.

nonman · 20/07/2023 23:49

here’s what will never happen, this is Alex Drummond who was born male and is now a lesbian. Alex has not had surgery or hormones and has decided to keeps the naturally grown beard, penis and testicles.

You are a bigot if you object to someone like Alex giving you personal care if you ask for a female care giver.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/patrickstrudwick/this-transgender-woman-has-a-full-beard-and-she-couldnt-be-h

This Trans Woman Kept Her Beard And Couldn't Be Happier

"I'm widening the bandwidth of how to be a woman." Alex Drummond talks to BuzzFeed News about why she kept her beard after transitioning – and how others react.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/patrickstrudwick/this-transgender-woman-has-a-full-beard-and-she-couldnt-be-h

swayingstreetlamp · 20/07/2023 23:52

whereaw · 20/07/2023 22:08

To be honest, I actually think it's a good thing - there are two sexes, male and female. The average person knows that and also ascribes gender to mean the same thing- ie there are two, male or female, masculine or feminine. It's just proof that people ultimately aren't blind or stupid and can see the distinction between male or female, no matter what pronouns a person is displaying or what they are wearing or how they try to present themselves. The 'new' meaning of gender is just total nonsense and would be better termed as personality, not an identity.

I see where you're coming from but I don't actually think that's true, because at these parties people always celebrate the result with certain stereotypes, e.g. blue and trucks for boys, pink and princesses for girls. They're buying in to all the "gendered" layer above the sex. It's not just about genitals.

thebloodycatwontstopmeowing · 20/07/2023 23:54

To me gender and sex are the same thing. There's two, male (or man) or female (or woman) and you can't change what you're born with.

It's not that I don't understand the difference, I simply don't agree with it.

JFDIYOLO · 20/07/2023 23:55

Victorians were fine with 'sex'. Shakespeare was.
The Suffragettes were.

But somehow someone decided that sex was an embarrassing word.

In many languages things have gender, which largely isn't a thing in English (apart from oddities like calling a ship she). So you get the situation in French where breast is masculine and beard is feminine. It's bonkers.

Then someone misappropriated the grammatical term gender as a euphemism for sex and for a while on we went.

Then things got complicated and sometimes it's still used as a euphemism for sex such as the gender pay gap, and sometimes for what trans people believe they should be.

It's a mess of people trying to 'be kind', be coy, go along with the flow.

I won't use the terms all gender / gender neutral / universal toilets - I calmly refer to mixed sex toilets.

I hope it will all be untangled soon.

MagnificentMagnolia · 20/07/2023 23:56

SummaLuvin · 20/07/2023 21:32

the same reason loads of people people say dice when they mean die - when words are used incorrectly often enough their exact correct meaning isn't always passed on, so more people then use the words in the same incorrect way.

This is the answer

Twyford · 21/07/2023 00:24

What on earth has it got to do with being woke? Surely if anything it's the opposite, and you're the one being woke, OP.

CallieQ · 21/07/2023 00:39

What's wrong with saying gender???

CallieQ · 21/07/2023 00:39

WhatADrabCarpet · 20/07/2023 21:33

Because they're thick?

Charming

thebloodycatwontstopmeowing · 21/07/2023 00:48

whereaw · 20/07/2023 22:08

To be honest, I actually think it's a good thing - there are two sexes, male and female. The average person knows that and also ascribes gender to mean the same thing- ie there are two, male or female, masculine or feminine. It's just proof that people ultimately aren't blind or stupid and can see the distinction between male or female, no matter what pronouns a person is displaying or what they are wearing or how they try to present themselves. The 'new' meaning of gender is just total nonsense and would be better termed as personality, not an identity.

Totally agree 👍🏻

maddening · 21/07/2023 01:00

Gender has been used interchangeably with sex for longer than the woke shite has been around - by taking issue with people using words you are buying into the nonsense. You let them steal your words at your peril.

DiscoBeat · 21/07/2023 01:12

Because inviting people to a sex party would cause some confusion.

Perfect answer there!

whereaw · 21/07/2023 06:29

@swayingstreetlamp that is true. Although, from experience, most people use the pink and blue to give some identity and meaning to very young babies because there isn't anything else to go by. I have found this tends to only be a 'thing' with very young babies, who go on to develop their own likes and dislikes and personalities, and most parents are led by that.
I do think that sex difference is more than genitalia, although I agree with you that the whole excessive gender stereotyping is damaging. Girls and boys should like what they like and wear or do what they want.
But I do think it serves as pretty clear evidence for where most people see the binary of m/f as fundamental. 20,30,40 genders is nonsense.

Lamelie · 21/07/2023 08:07

Charlotteowensdodgydad · 20/07/2023 23:37

@EmpressaurusOfCats sorry but if a trans woman had a beard I’m certain a female patient would decline care (as would I) and I suspect the chances of that ever happening are zilch.
Otoh a trans female without a beard, more tricky.

This comes under the “it’s never happened” argument about trans rights and it happens time and time again. Documented. I’ll post links in a minute, phone about to run out of charge.

RufustheFactualReindeer · 21/07/2023 08:14

Moneynewpence · 20/07/2023 23:39

Because they are different, simples. But you just wanted a nice dogwhistle to bring all the 'phobes to the yard.
Boring and immature.

Show quote history

You turned up…

Flickersy · 21/07/2023 08:17

bellac11 · 20/07/2023 21:55

Has anyone seen the new neurophen advert, its addressing the 'gender pain gap' which is about WOMEN who arent really taken seriously about their pain (which is common)

But of course it is only biological females that get this sort of response from health providers, a man pretending to be a woman would no doubt be taken very seriously in terms of his health needs, compared to women

Therefore there is a SEX pain gap, people are discriminated in health care based on their SEX

But 'sex pain gap' can be interpreted very differently.

Women do actually experience more pain during sex than men. But I expect this isn't what you're thinking of.

In this case I think 'gender pain gap' is actually clearer.

Lamelie · 21/07/2023 08:18

@Charlotteowensdodgydad @EmpressaurusOfCats
here you go, stubble and patient told the nurse was a man and didn’t receive smear test.

RufustheFactualReindeer · 21/07/2023 08:19

I honestly do not remember the word gender being used for sex in many if any of my conversations back in the day

i thought it was an Americanism, thats not to say obviously that there were not people and places that used it here but that it wasn’t commonplace in my circles

i am also positive that i had a private sex scan for ds2

but the meaning of gender seams to be changing to ‘identity’ in which case gender reveal parties don’t work anymore

i really don’t understand how gender can now mean ‘either male or female’ AND ‘how ever you identify out of a 100 types’

PerspiringElizabeth · 21/07/2023 08:20

Because ‘sex reveal’ sounds alarming.

I am camp No Reveal though, it’s all tacky in my book.

Weal · 21/07/2023 08:20

I always use the word sex now when I mean sex. I also have started using female more than woman. I don’t think I should have to really, but I want to be clear about who I’m talking about.

I think with the “gender reveal” thing those people don’t even think about the words. They’re just revealing if their child is male or female and use sex/gender interchangeably.

I see a lot of forms that ask for gender when I think they mean sex.

DinnaeFashYersel · 21/07/2023 08:21

Because most people aren't immersed in politics and it's just a word that they regard as interchangeable with sex.

marshmallowfinder · 21/07/2023 08:23

CallieQ · 21/07/2023 00:39

What's wrong with saying gender???

In the right context, it's fine, to discuss how people view themselves. But sex is irrefutable. Your DNA dictates you're either male or female and that cannot be changed. So an unborn baby cannot possibly have a gender. Only a sex.