If sex and gender are different why do we use the same words for them?

[testing987654321]

This came out of a conversation at work.

"She's a girl"

"Why can't you respect that she identifies as a boy?"

"Because she's not a boy, she doesn't have a penis"

"you're talking about sex not gender"

"So what is gender? Why use the same words as sex?"

It's the heart of the problem. We're using words in such a way that allows nonsense to appear meaningful.

The guardian recently had an article about dick pics. A woman started researching and received lots more diverse images "women with penises". That phrase only works if you use "women" to mean gender identity whilst referring to the actual sex parts of a man.

Yes gender is the social and cultural aspects whereas sex is the physical. Agreed this mixing of the two seems to have confused a lot of people and made them believe you can change sex, when they mean they want to look and behave like a stereotype of a certain gender.

The person you were talking to doesn't sound like they really get it either but are trying to be "nice".

I think a lot of people also use gender as the polite synonym for sex. It’s a pain that we use the same word for biological sex & sexual intercourse.

I think the differentiation didn't used to matter so much before AGPs decided the world wasn't affirming them enough and declared their war on women.

Yes, and recently I've seen people trying to claim that sex only means sexual intercourse, not biological sex which is "gender" so that's the "sex" in homosexuality.

It’s a pain that we use the same word for biological sex & sexual intercourse.

Yep. "Sex reveal cake" and "sex scan" don't sound quite the same, do they?

@strictlynamechange
“Yep. "Sex reveal cake" and "sex scan" don't sound quite the same, do they?”
Sex describes our biological indicators and getting jiggy so we have coopted an inaccurate term, gender, when we want to describe biology.

We use the wrong term from a misguided sense of propriety.

Yes, and recently I've seen people trying to claim that sex only means sexual intercourse, not biological sex which is "gender" so that's the "sex" in homosexuality.

I think ‘gender equality’ is an oxymoron. Gender is intrinsically misogynist & we’re never going to get sex equality until we can ditch it altogether. Ridiculous claims like that suggest to me that I’m on the right track.

I think this is one of those things where a lot of MN are very clear on the meaning of the two words but most people i meet think they are the same and gender is a bit more polite than saying sex. I used to do market research every client corrected my survey desigbs to say gender if i put sex as it is 'more polite'

Ridiculous claims like that suggest to me that I’m on the right track.

Yes I think you are. I was actually speechless, which is rare for me I'm still not sure if it was an attempt at gaslighting or they were genuinely that ignorant, but other people said they had come across similar. It was on Twitter, of course.

It is only pretty recently the word ‘gender’ has been used as a synonym for sex. It was only a few years ago that all forms etc asked for ‘sex’. I am beginning to think this has been done purposefully in order to muddle things for the benefit of a certain ideology

I think this deliberate, explicit attempt to replace the word sex with gender is because sex is what Douglas Murray calls ‘hardware’ as in can’t be changed whereas gender is ‘software’ the gender stereotype programming/ socialization which is not immutable. Replacing sex with gender is an attempt to pretend biological reality is a software program which can be easily rewritten or replaced

Male and Female is Sex

Masculine and Feminine is Gender

I was wotking like this about 10-15 years ago, when i was being corrected i mean

I was told very recently by a trans woman that I have no right discussing such things as I'm neither an expert on the subject or transgender, so therefore my opinion is not valid. 🙄

This was in response to something I had posted with regard to women being slowly eradicated, with the replacement of people have periods (no they don't, women have periods) and people have babies (no they don't, women have babies).

I was so happy to discuss it and be educated on the whole gender/sex thing, right up until I was told my opinion wasn't valid.

I've lost "friends" over this, and apparently I'm the one to blame🙄🥴

I think gender came into use because people started being squeamish and faux Victorian about using the word sex. Sex is a “dirty” word so they use gender to avoid saying it. Only now it’s causing all these problems you discuss in your OP and people are so deep in the habit of saying gender (every online form I fill in asks for gender instead of sex!) that they think it means sex.

Yep. "Sex reveal cake" and "sex scan" don't sound quite the same, do they?

sex scan makes more sense than gender scan.

Homogenderality doesn't have the same ring to it either. Or the fairer gender etc.

The gender reveal, gender scan type catchphrasing is a very recent american import. I have 15 and 10 yo and the language used in the UK from antenatal staff and from friends and family was always always sex.

What sex is your baby?
Do you want to know the sex of your baby?
Do you know if you are having a boy or a girl?
Different sex or another girl?

etc etc.

Same on all paperwork, baby's sex was referred to clearly. Don't remember any mention of gender anywhere.

When I got a new kitten it was sexed by the vet. When to I sign up with a new vet, I am asked what sex my pet is.

Sex is not a rude word and has only ever been tittered at by schoolchildren previously. The U.S. influence is trying very hard to stop common use of the word sex as scientific fact, ask yourself why?

It is extremely important to be aware of the dumbing down of language and the purposeful attempts to remove valid language as tool for control.

uncommongroundmedia.com/banned-from-medium-pronouns-are-rohypnol/

There are lots of words in the english language whose meaning is dictated by context, trying to remove them all would leave us speechless. Words are power.

I refuse to answer gender questions and will score out and replace with sex if on paper or return incomplete with an explanation if electronic.

We don't have to go along with this.

was so happy to discuss it and be educated on the whole gender/sex thing, right up until I was told my opinion wasn't valid.

Your opinion already wasn't valid, because you are a "transphobe". Don't get hung up on what these idiots say on social media. Just mute them (if on Twitter) or scroll past.

I definitely remember discussing this in biology in the 1970s.

The suffragettes used the word 'sex'

I think there is a problem that there is no suitable word for 'having sex' - sexual intercourse is a euphemism which has been shortened, and copulation is a bit specifically about one bit. 'Marital relations' is long past it.

So sex comes to mean 'the act of sexual union' or whatever in general terms (where it was only alluded to before) which means 'sex' does not sound genteel enough and people move on to 'gender'.

But 'gender' is useless if you are speaking outside of general terms because it does not actually mean 'sex' in the same way.

They don't want a good faith discussion. They just wanted to shut you down. You do have a dog in the fight, and just as much of a right to speak about women's rights as they do about trans issues.

I refuse to answer gender questions and will score out and replace with sex if on paper or return incomplete with an explanation if electronic.

What do you do on online forms that don’t let you proceed any further if you don’t answer the “gender” question? Some of them are things I really need to apply for/fill in so can’t just not send them.

I think gender came into use because people started being squeamish and faux Victorian about using the word sex.

Yes, and weirdly the Victorians weren’t squeamish about using the word sex to refer to biological sex. That’s all our society because we started using it as an abbreviation of sexual intercourse and now we’ve got all squeamish.

sex scan makes more sense than gender scan

Or anomaly scan, because that is what it is actually for - finding out the sex is just a part of it.