Student being forced to confuse sex and gender in essay or will lose marks

RightsHoardingRaptor · 17/10/2021 15:57

Are the texts she is using American as they use gender for sex. If so, could she clarify in her essay the common definitions in each country and also state that gender is a contested idea? Not untrue, critical thought process, not outing as GC.

TheCountessofFitzdotterel · 17/10/2021 16:06

I would suggest she writes it as the authorities demand but with a disclaimer in a footnote reserving her right to disagree. Something like ‘for the purposes of this essay I will be using the terms to mean…. However, I note that…’

TheCountessofFitzdotterel · 17/10/2021 16:09

It’s a student essay not a piece of work that will be published under her name so I don’t think she needs to ensure it expresses beliefs that she subscribes to in the way something would be if it was out in public with her name on it.

Twelveshoes · 17/10/2021 16:10

Write something along the lines of the terms sex and gender are subject to strain and slippage but in the context of the texts discussed they mean xyz and are used interchangeably (ref a, ref b, ref c).

HeddaGarbled · 17/10/2021 16:12

Yes, I would just add a paragraph (or a few sentences in the introduction) explaining how the terminology is used differently by different publications, without expressing her own opinion. That would be academically objective.

Manderleyagain · 17/10/2021 16:15

If the marker tells her how to get good marks then she has to listen to that ultimately. But I would have thought as long as she sticks to the accepted practice of her discipline, and sets out her reasoning, it would be wrong for the marker to reduce marks for that reason.

If its simply that the texts use 'gender' when they mean 'sex' (ie meaning whether someone is male or female) then it's not surprising as the two are synonyms in day to day English, and lots of academic works use it that way. She could just note this to explain the terms that come up.in quotes. Or she could set out her definitions, refer to an academic source who uses those definitions, but also acknowledge that there are other understandings of these concepts and definitions of these terms have changed over time.

It really depends on the specifics and how far she wants to push it, how many marks the piece of work is worth etc.

MidsomerMurmurs · 17/10/2021 16:18

I teach in a university. How far to take this depends how brave she is, and I note from a distance that there have been some very odd things happening at Bristol (and by “odd” I mean “absolutely outrageous”). If there was any suggestion that she had been marked down for even pointing out that this is a contested area, I would hope she would appeal. It’s tricky because she needs this same institution to award her a degree that she deserves and she shouldn’t be put in a position where she’s in danger of sacrificing her own ambition in order to present a coherent argument in an essay.

I would really hope that there are some adults in the relevant department. If this is a tutor telling her that she must state that sex=gender, does that mean a PhD student taking some tutorials? Might be worth her while talking to a more senior member of the department.

TaraR2020 · 17/10/2021 16:23

This is not her hill to die on.
I would advise her to write it in the way required by the university and move on. She will have plenty of opportunity to protest her opinions in life if she feels that strongly.

Given that she keeps her views secret socially, I can't imagine she'd find it that hard to do.

Justme56 · 17/10/2021 16:26

I think where possible she should name the author(s) of the texts in the essay, eg Smith etal uses sex and gender interchangeably.

titchy · 17/10/2021 16:27

As long as she's not doing a science degree just a sentence in brackets (For clarity in this essay I have used the terms 'sex' and 'gender' synonymously.)

2bazookas · 17/10/2021 16:28

A GC young woman, daughter of an old friend, is taking a degree at Bristol University and was required to write an essay in which issues of sex and gender came up. She pointed out to her tutor that the some of the definitions of sex and gender, and the way those words are used in the texts and notes she's been pointed to, are unscientific and inconsistent and based in ideology.

    Then that is exactly what she should discuss in her essay.

At university, students are EXPECTED to think for themselves, challenge ideas, argue in tutorials etc. It's even fine to put across a criticism of Jane Austen. .. so long as its persuasive and sensible.

HowardNoir · 17/10/2021 16:28

I think she should trust her tutor's advice and write what's right according to them. It's likely the words are used about identity, not science, or by Americans who don't use English.

WeeBisom · 17/10/2021 16:30

If she’s doing a humanities course, such as gender studies, she can’t just say “some of these definitions are wrong and rooted in ideology.” As her tutor I would be encouraging her to engage with the different theories and I would expect her to have a solid understanding of the material before going on a critique. She would also need to explain why and how the definitions are wrong for a solid grade.

EmbarrassingHadrosaurus · 17/10/2021 16:30

I would suggest the student presents the SAGER guidelines as justification for the correct use of sex and gender.

Heidari S, Babor TF, De Castro P, Tort S, Curno M. Sex and Gender Equity in Research: rationale for the SAGER guidelines and recommended use. Res Integr Peer Rev. 2016 May 3;1:2. doi: 10.1186/s41073-016-0007-6. PMID: 29451543; PMCID: PMC5793986.

researchintegrityjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s41073-016-0007-6

GreenWhiteViolet · 17/10/2021 16:36

I had this issue when doing my degrees and I found a sociology text which stated that sex = biology, gender = roles/stereotypes. I wrote that my use of the terms throughout the essay followed [author's] distinction. That was I was grounding it in scholarship, not my own opinion/standpoint. Never had any negative comments, although I know most of my lecturers thought TWAW.

Original poster

Shedbuilder · 17/10/2021 17:04

Thanks for those useful suggestions which I've already emailed to her mum.

The texts she's been pointed are, I think (it's difficult to be certain but I've done a bit of googling), full-on POMO queer ideology. It's more than just a transatlantic issue of two countries separated by the same language*.

She is studying a subject about as far removed from Gender Studies as it's possible to get.

I'm hopeless at understanding how modern universities work. I went to the kind of medieval institution where eccentric tutors would say at the end of seminars 'Just write me an essay on XYZ. Minimum 1000 words by 4pm on Tuesday.' XYZ would inevitably be something never previously mentioned, let alone discussed, so there would be a week's panic trying to read everything you could on the subject, making up your mind about it and then framing your own essay title. Terrifying, but it taught me to think.

*GB Shaw.

OP posts:

howard97A · 17/10/2021 17:19

@2bazookas

A GC young woman, daughter of an old friend, is taking a degree at Bristol University and was required to write an essay in which issues of sex and gender came up. She pointed out to her tutor that the some of the definitions of sex and gender, and the way those words are used in the texts and notes she's been pointed to, are unscientific and inconsistent and based in ideology.

    Then that is exactly what she should discuss in her essay.

At university, students are EXPECTED to think for themselves, challenge ideas, argue in tutorials etc. It's even fine to put across a criticism of Jane Austen. .. so long as its persuasive and sensible.

Some might think that you’re prejudiced!

Original poster

Shedbuilder · 17/10/2021 17:38

@2bazookas

A GC young woman, daughter of an old friend, is taking a degree at Bristol University and was required to write an essay in which issues of sex and gender came up. She pointed out to her tutor that the some of the definitions of sex and gender, and the way those words are used in the texts and notes she's been pointed to, are unscientific and inconsistent and based in ideology.

    Then that is exactly what she should discuss in her essay.

At university, students are EXPECTED to think for themselves, challenge ideas, argue in tutorials etc. It's even fine to put across a criticism of Jane Austen. .. so long as its persuasive and sensible.

2bazookas, I agree with you — but then I'm old-school and I understand that things are greatly changed at Bristol...

I don't know quite how to say what needs to be said without potentially giving too much away, but imagine that you're a science student who's been doing theory and lab work on polymers. The students have now been asked to write their work up in essay form and onto the title (and reflected in the guidance they've been given in notes) has been tacked a sub-clause about needing to consider gender/ sex in their answer.

I know that sounds bizarre: the real thing is equally as strange. My friend's daughter is wondering whether it's some kind of test to sort the GC from the woke. She is not studying science, not studying polymers.

OP posts:

Coyoacan · 17/10/2021 18:03

As it is not her area of study, I guess I would recommend she pretend to be fully on board with all that rubbish. It breaks my heart to say so as honesty is very important to me, but under the circs...

vivariumvivariumsvivaria · 17/10/2021 18:13

That's a useful reference ,Embarrassing, thanks

senua · 17/10/2021 18:15

The tutor said she couldn't just omit mentioning the subject and she needs to stick to the gender=sex line or she would be marked down.
But it's only one element of one essay in one module in one year. It is unlikely to change her degree classification, surely?
Is there a higher-up that she can talk to? Has she got the tutor's 'advice' in writing for reference, if the time comes.

Original poster

Shedbuilder · 17/10/2021 18:30

@senua

The tutor said she couldn't just omit mentioning the subject and she needs to stick to the gender=sex line or she would be marked down. But it's only one element of one essay in one module in one year. It is unlikely to change her degree classification, surely? Is there a higher-up that she can talk to? Has she got the tutor's 'advice' in writing for reference, if the time comes.

Nothing in writing, everything plausibly deniable. She thinks possibly the tutor is GC but couldn't be sure. I think on this subject she's just going to have to do what she can by following the excellent advice above and passing swiftly on. I was so lucky not to have any of this shit to deal with at college. They were three fabulous, scary, mind-expanding years without the need to tiptoe around on eggshells.

I know it's only a couple of marks (or whatever) but she's got big career plans and it's been made clear to her that a First would get things off to a good start.

OP posts:

TheCountessofFitzdotterel · 17/10/2021 18:53

If you are applying for postgraduate funding it’s not just a matter of a first or a 2.1 - they will be looking at whether you just scraped a first or had a solid or a high one. So not wanting to risk a single mark over this seems wise to me.

Twelveshoes · 17/10/2021 19:06

Obviously you can’t give the question away, but without knowing it, it is really impossible to say.

It only really matters if it is an area where she is going to have to give biological examples to answer the question. For example health and safety rules and pregnancy, war and genocidal rape, environmental degradation and survival rates.

If she is answering a question like that and gets into trouble for giving examples that refer to sex, there is a problem.

If she is just being asked to use gender in the old fashioned sense that there are different outcomes for the sexes, that’s not a problem either.

If she is being asked to use gender as shorthand for gender identity and not use any sex based examples, that is a problem.

I don’t actually think it is necessary to discuss gender identity at all when looking at sex/gender impacts, unless you are forced to by the texts.

FWIW DD is at uni on an arts course and they are still using sex and gender in the old sex = biological sex and gender= gender roles and social outcomes definition.

NewlyGranny · 17/10/2021 19:32

Can she get the tutor to put it in an email, perhaps by emailing to say, "Can you just confirm your advice that I should not distinguish between the terms sex and gender in the essay entitled...due on...?

And if there's no response she should proceed cautiously using the good advice offered above. Highly unlikely any academic is going to be open about that warning!

But very possible she could be marked down for failing to distinguish the terms!