This post is meant to be a friendly and informative look at the differences between sex versus gender, and why it is important to distinguish between the two, not only in this online community, but everywhere, and all of the time.
Sex and gender are two different terms that are often mistaken for interchangeable ones. While the idea of them being different might seem like a newer one, it is in fact, not at all new. In modern day Western culture, gender roles have been placed into two back-and-white categories, but only in the last 50 years or so. In many other cultures, and even in our own prior to that, gender roles have fluctuated quite a bit.
Fun fact: while this still shows a black-and-white view of gender roles, even though it is antiquated, did you know that before 1950 pink used to be more associated with men as it was a strong color, and blue considered more dainty and therefore more effeminate? Find out more here: https://www.genderspectrum.org/understanding-gender
In our culture, while it has essentially been “the norm” to make very distinct gender roles for males and females in recent history, thankfully, times are changing for the better. It is no longer only socially acceptable to identify your gender with the sex you were born with. While this may have never been an issue for you, or possibly even anyone you know, it has been an issue for many, and continues to be one. So while the distinction between sex and gender might seem to some to be arbitrary or unimportant, it most assuredly is neither of those.
Some people learn the difference between sex and gender, and yet decide to disregard it. There may be a number of reasons for this, including but not limited to: disliking change, believing that the distinction is unnecessary, not feeling personally affected by the distinction, not feeling that anyone close to them would be personally affected by the distinction, disagreeing with alternative lifestyles, or simply not liking that “so many things have to be politically correct these days.” While everyone is entitled to their own opinions, that is all that the above reasons are: opinions. The fact is, sex and gender are different terms, regardless of any and all opinions. Sex =/= gender: FACT. If you decide to disregard this fact, you will not only offend people, you will be, quite frankly, inaccurate. If you decide to disregard this fact on The Bump, you will be met with negative comments from people who will both be offended by your decision and question your intelligence. You may lose the respect of many posters. If this is okay with you, by all means, disregard away. But brace yourself.
If you made no distinction between the two terms but only because you legitimately did not know that there was one, that is a different story. The distinction is fairly new, and it happens. However, do not be surprised if the lack of knowledge annoys most of the active members, and even some newer members of this board, because some days (and this is no exaggeration) we see between 5 and 10 posts about “Baby’s gender” per day. Your lack of reading previous posts, not necessarily your lack of knowing the distinction between terms, will most likely be met with snark and gifs. If this happens, the appropriate response would be to apologize and make an honest attempt to both understand and apply the distinction in the future.
Now to actually talk about the distinction between sex and gender, I have attached some great resources here to help with the matter. I cannot take credit for any of this!
Copied directly from the World Health Organization:
What do we mean by “sex” and “gender”?
Sometimes it is hard to understand exactly what is meant by the term “gender”, and how it differs from the closely related term “sex”.
“Sex” refers to the biological and physiological characteristics that define men and women.
“Gender” refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviours, activities, and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and women.
To put it another way:
“Male” and “female” are sex categories, while “masculine” and “feminine” are gender categories.
Aspects of sex will not vary substantially between different human societies, while aspects of gender may vary greatly.
Some examples of sex characteristics :
- Women menstruate while men do not
- Men have testicles while women do not
- Women have developed breasts that are usually capable of lactating, while men have not
- Men generally have more massive bones than women
Some examples of gender characteristics :
- In the United States (and most other countries), women earn significantly less money than men for similar work
- In Viet Nam, many more men than women smoke, as female smoking has not traditionally been considered appropriate
- In Saudi Arabia men are allowed to drive cars while women are not
- In most of the world, women do more housework than men
http://www.who.int/gender/whatisgender/en/
From Gender Spectrum:
The article “Understanding Gender” is amazing, but it is really long, so I will post the link here. I strongly encourage you to read it though- very helpful, and very well-said!
https://www.genderspectrum.org/understanding-gender
And of course, the Genderbread Person, which I believe originated from It’s Pronounced Metrosexual www.itspronouncesmetrosexual.com
Whatever you decide to do is ultimately your decision, but again I hope that you understand that deliberately interchanging the terms sex and gender is not only offensive to many people, but factually inaccurate. As I have mentioned what will almost assuredly happen if you deliberately interchange the terms on The Bump, I encourage you to consider yourself both informed and warned. This post may not (i.e. will not) be read by everyone who should read it before posting, but hopefully it can at least be referred to in the future.
March 2015 babies 