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Pedants' corner

When I was at school only nouns had "gender"

7 replies

somebloke123 · 20/02/2013 10:34

People just had sex.

Why the change in usage?

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WMittens · 20/02/2013 13:28

I didn't have sex when I was at school - have I missed out on something?

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somebloke123 · 20/02/2013 13:51

A pedant elaborates: Yes you did, as did I, since to have sex is the state of being male or female. I didn't have sexual intercourse though.

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somebloke123 · 20/02/2013 13:51

Sorry I meant "to be in the state of being male or female".

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malinois · 20/02/2013 13:57

Because sex and gender mean two different things. Your sex, male or female, is basically your chromosomal make-up (XX or XY). Gender is the not just the physiological, but also the behavioural characteristics that distinguish between feminine and masculine.

Simply put, sex is biological, gender is a social construct.

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megandraper · 20/02/2013 14:05

Malinois has already said what I was going to say and said it better

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somebloke123 · 20/02/2013 14:34

Thanks malinois. So it seems to me that when filling in a form, it should really ask for your sex, which is objectively determined. Instead one gets all this absurd stuff about "the gender you were assigned at birth" as if there were someone standing with the midwife arbitrarily "assigning" you a gender much as a traffic attendant at a cross channel ferry might assign your car arbitrarily to a particular lane for boarding.

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malinois · 20/02/2013 15:22

somebloke123 I've never seen a form asking for "gender assigned at birth". I've seen "sex", and I've seen "gender", although I suspect that most forms that ask for gender, really want to know your sex.

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