Gender as synonym for sex

[BCCoach]

Ok preparing to be flamed for this one and yes it’s probably a TAAT, but why do so many feminists use the recent (Psychological/Sociological/American according to OED) meaning of gender and deny the much older meaning as a synonym for biological sex, which is the one that the vast majority of people are using in the context of babies?

Gender as a synonym for sex is meaning 3a in OED and dates from 1474 while the new meaning (3b) is a US import first recorded in 1945.

What’s stopping us from reclaiming the older and, outside of academia and special interest groups, far more generally understood meaning?

I think that when gender is used, we should ask for clarity "do you mean sex or gender identity?" Using a word that can be interpreted as both is a bit too easy for people not to take advantage of. I don't think we should allow the assumption that gender automatically means identity.

Totally agree. When I talk about my thoughts on the difference between gender and sex (e.g. with friends - I'm now having tentative conversations on all this stuff), I also talk about the "old" meaning and the "new" meaning of the word gender in this way. Drawing out the need for clarification helps as a start point for me to then say "72+ genders is fine" etc for someone with a gender identity belief, because it's very clear that I'm not using it as a synonym for sex.

In fact more often than not, it's this pivotal point that has led people to say to say to me that they don't have a gender or a gender identity either. It means that they can still be kind towards those that believe that they do, while making sense of their own thoughts.

Obviously it doesn't help anyone who needs you to believe that they literally are the opposite sex. But then I'm not trying to facilitate that. I'm an advocate for third spaces for those that don't feel comfortable using facilities and services that are commensurate with their sex. If someone tells me that this invalidates their identity and that they consider me transphobic I'll say that I accept that from their perspective I probably am. Same as I'd accept being called blasphemous (from the perspective of a Christian) if I say that I don't believe God exists.

It's been pointed out to me on this board (and I agree) that there is a difference between religion and gender identity, because religion doesn't need validation from anyone else. Someone can believe in God without others needing to believe in God for God to be real to them. If someone needs me to agree that they are a woman when I can see that they are not, the fragility of their belief is their problem. Not mine. They are very welcome to believe that they are the opposite sex - and at this point they are using gender and sex as synonyms of each other. I will continue to believe that they are not the opposite sex but I will happily say that I support their belief that they are whatever gender they say they are i.e. I will make it clear that the words have different meanings for me. But my support does not extend to supporting them to cross other people's boundaries or describing body functions or parts with "gender-neutral" language (periods, penises, smear tests etc). I'm yet to test this specific point of conflict out in real life but I'm getting increasingly confident about doing so if required.

Much as it would be nice to reclaim the language, I don’t think it’s possible.

As you have observed, many people still use the two words interchangeably.

Transactivists actively encouraged that interchangeable use in law (the GRA being the obvious example) in the full knowledge that it would build in confusion.

They set about changing the meaning of the word. This was not accidental.

It is in some ways very similar to the way they are trying to change the meaning of the word woman to include some men, because changing the meaning of words used in law is a short cut and much easier than arguing for those men to gain the right to use women’s spaces through open debate and changing the law itself.

So if politicians and those high in the civil service and others in positions of power are using gender to mean gender identity and we ignore that change or spend our efforts in every case checking the language to see which it is being used as, or whether it’s deliberately being used to sow confusion, then we end up fighting an increasingly obscure argument.

Whereas if we insist that the word which has a clear and unambiguous meaning is used whenever it’s important, we can be much clearer over what we are arguing about. To which end, no it is probably not worth correcting people on threads talking about “gender reveal” precisely because it’s not important. In addition, I think many people would just roll their eyes and think it is precious, which is the opposite of what we want.

Once it is fully established in law that segregation is by sex, for example, then we can leave the words to evolve in a natural way and we might see a natural reversion to the common meaning.

But I don’t think what you are proposing is possible, OP. Language is being deliberately manipulated by those pushing gender ideology and I don’t think we can easily push back against that aspect, other than to hold firm on the meanings of words that ought to be utterly clear, such as the words women and female. Those are much more important words to protect.

Agree with the above. It's too late when judges are using the word interchangeably beyond the intended purpose. So we need to fully separate them. Even better of we say biological sex as no link to stereotypes or behaviour just bodies with individual personalities.

Building on what @PriOn1 and @Boomboom22 say, I'm borrowing a helpful screenshot from another thread, as Sex Matter put it so clearly when explaining why you can't ban children from changing their gender (see image at the end of this post):

This is the thread that it came from for context:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4848610-sex-and-gender-a-simple-foundational-understanding

Also, to add... This thread and the one linked above are really helping me to get my approach straight for when I speak to the school about their PHSE/RSE materials. This is my thread in case it's of interest to anyone:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4848610-sex-and-gender-a-simple-foundational-understanding

My meeting has been pushed back to September (my request, and not linked to the government delay in getting advice out) so it's incredibly helpful to read more thoughts from others on the words sex and gender. I'm adding a cross reference to here in my thread to so that I can keep everything in one place.

*Sex Matters