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I want to take exception with the trend today of using the word "gender" when the word "sex" is more appropriate.
You will see this often times on forms you fill out. You are asked to pick a "Gender" with a box next to the word "male" or "female."
The problem here is that it should not say "Gender" it should say "Sex."
From what I understand the world "gender" is a grammatical term where a word is either masculine or feminine.
If you want to ask me my gender, I should say "masculine" not "male"!
The reason I think we are seeing the world "gender" being used in place of "sex" is because people won't to avoid using the word "sex"!
Am I wrong? Tell me what you think!
Welcome.
This has come up a few times before. Here is my response to a related question in a different thread. Previous thread
Frankly, I would use Gender on a form or survey I was writing, but I have no objection to the use of Sex in that context. The two words are synonymous in many uses.
To understand the reason I would prefer gender to sex on a form, you have to be willing to throw out the vast majority of situations in which the answer to both would be the same, and consider the cases in which the answer to the two might not be identical: gender reassignment at various stages, hermaphroditism, and others. Then ask yourself which answer you want: do you want the person's chromosome configuration, or their identity affiliation? Then ask yourself if either might be more likely get you the answer you want. Gender would give me the answer I would typically want.
Martha Barnette
Grant Barrett
Grant Barrett
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