Is it because we are afraid to talk about sex?

[loveyouradvice]

I feel like I'm living in a mad world.....

And wonder if at its simplest its because we shy away from the word sex.....

Gender Pay Gap Report..... hugely influential and a great thing to do... But surely it is the Sex Pay Gap Report.....

I think the pay gap could be described as either/both as it comprises components of sex and gender.

The ‘sex’ component is outright discrimination - ‘women will not perform as well as men’. The ‘gender’ component stems from females performing stereotypes roles that impact earning, most obviously caring roles.

But I do agree that people overuse the term gender to avoid using the word sex.

Did you listen to Money Box Live this week on R4, 'The Gender Pay Gap'. Its on catch-up? It is worth listening again with this in mind....

I've often thought this. That people say gender rather than sex in order to avoid the word sex. It leads to all kinds of confusion and mislabelling !

I find it hard to believe there is reluctance to use the word sex, seeing as we live in a wildly over sexualised society where you can't open a newspaper, watch TV or a film (hardly) without sex being mentioned or 'done'.
I just don't buy it.

Yes OP you are definitely right.

It is a pay gap between the sexes.

Actually I thought exactly the same thing op but thought everyone would think I was talking nonsense! So I'm pleased to see this thread.

I think many people are mortified at saying the word "sex" so instead of talking about the sexes or asking someone what sex they are..they prefer to use the word gender.

You're totally right. Think about how few people would be happy to have Baby Sex Reveals.

It’s true

Prudish but at the same time over sexualised. That’s our Society.

Is “baby gender reveals” a thing?

Crikey. I missed that.

I think you are completely right.

Gender reveal parties etc. just add to it.
The word “sex” on a party invitation (as ridiculous as the party theme may be) seems off putting to a chunk of the population.

And I'll point out (again) that our MN profiles have a choice of 'gender' M or F. How daft is that, on a parenting website, which would not exist without biological sex. And has a Sex topic. MN of all places does not need a euphemism for sex!

Absolutely. The word gender has become synonymous with sex.
It makes talking about sex blurry.

When you have transactivists claiming that gender is something 'in their head', but, funnily enough, translates to their rights based on sex (about bodies, not heads), it's easy to see how it works for them, and against us.

It's only when you ask, outright, to a normal person what they think the difference is, that they start to think.

How does a woman think?
How does that manifest itself?
Give me a list.

I want list, please. I want the top five things that makes a man believe he is a woman.

It can't happen.
Even if you ask for just one thing.

Because the definition of sex is a description of reproductive function.

That's it.

But it's only when you put someone on the spot and say go on then, tell me, that they get it.

So when's Mumsnet going to change our profiles from Gender to Sex??? Anyone had a response to that request... I suspect it's been asked a fair few times....

I think I've asked before, love, by reporting one of my own posts whinging about this... didn't get an answer. I may have misremembered though.