Hellobee Boards

I thought they were the same

Yep. That's the difference!

Yep. I am careful to always refer to our baby's sex, not his/her gender. Almost everyone uses gender though...drives me a tiny bit crazy!

@mrbee: not sure! I don't get upset because I really don't think it's widely known. Guess I'm missing something too haha. I feel like people say the word "gender" more often. Maybe because they just think of sex as the act? Who knows!

@mrbee: ha! That always works too!!

I know the difference and occasionally think before using the correct one. Someone must have made a big deal about it to me once, because otherwise I would not care.

I didn't know there was a difference, but I always referred to my children's 'gender' when I was pregnant- for some reason referring to it as sex makes me uncomfortable, especially when there is another word to use which is more acceptable.

Interesting...I never knew there was a difference, I just learned something!

I consider myself to be very intelligent, and I'm still having a hard time understanding the distinction, even with the explanations provided.
Can someone please elaborate a little more?

@mrbee: lol I totally agree that there needs to be a different term for a baby's "sex"

Sex is your bits.
Gender is socially constructed.

I think people get upset because your gender is not necessarily your sex (transperson, etc). It also makes blanket assumptions about masculinity/femininity that can feel quite restricting.

It's really important to understand the difference!

There's a great info graphic on this site that explains a lot of complex concepts in a simple way:

http://itspronouncedmetrosexual.com/2012/03/the-genderbread-person-v2-0/

@Cherrybee: I've always heard it that sex is your DNA, so in the situation you described the sex would still be male. But I could well be wrong

Okay, so I have been doing some research (well, actually, my husband has!).

As far as the English Language is concerned, the words are basically interchangeable. Gender - from the Latin genus - refers to "kind or type" so male or female. It is not wrong to say "the gender of my fetus is female". In fact, before the 1950s, the word gender was only really used to describe grammatical catagories (like in German the word dog is male, the word cat is female).

However, back in the 1970s, the terms were given more specific, differentiated meaning (as described above) in the context of feminist theory. This is still largely adhered to in the social sciences.

However, in general usage, the words are very much used to mean the same thing. Gender is in fact commonly used to describe the physiology of non-human animals (what gender are those cats?) without any associated social implications.

So, in short, if you were writing an academic piece, specifically in the field of social sciences, you would need to consider the differences between gender and sex as described above when choosing which word to use depending on the context of your paper. However, if, like me, you are just having a chat about the sex/gender/pink-or-blueness of your fetus, it is perfectly correct to use either term as far as I'm concerned. And if my little girl wants to be a little boy that's fine with me and I will show that by my actions and not what very specific words I use on the run up to her birth!

@cherrybee -- I don't think there's a clear, cut and dried answer to that question. For the overwhelming majority of people, their chromosomes, primary sex characteristics, secondary sex characteristics, hormonal patterns, gender presentation and gender identity are all roughly concordant.

But, there's also a whole lot of grey area. People can be chromosomally intersex. They may have a typical xx or xy genotype but have ambiguous primary sex characteristics or sex characteristics associated with the "other" sex due to atypical hormone receptors or due to atypical fetal hormone exposures.

Thing get more muddy when you consider that there are imaging studies indicating the brains of transwomen (with or without hormone therapy or social transition to living as a woman) more closely resemble the brains of cisgender (non trans) women than the brains of men. So, maybe we should be talking about gender as both social role and identity and as "brain sex".

Basically, it is usually straightforward: DNA = primary sex characteristics = secondary sex characteristics = gender identity = gender presentation. But, you can have mix/match amongst or within any of those points. Sex and gender are intricately tied together.

This drives me insane! I try not to correct people often on the boards but I always cringe. Sex is male or female, gender is more of a feminine / masculine difference. I can't stand gender constructs - ie, girls play with dolls, boys play with trucks. I did not have a gender scan, i had an anatomy scan, because who knows what my daughters personality will be like or how she will think of herself.

I know the official definitions, but sometimes I interchange the words (using the word Sex in some situations seems... Out of place?)

I have a genuine question, I don't mean this in a snarky way at all! Maybe on of you experts here can help me understand this. When someone says they were "born a girl" when their Sex is male (or vice versa) is the implication that something in the way they were brought up/their environment is the cause of this for them? If gender is completely socially constructed, how can someone literally be born a different gender than their Sex? Wouldn't they just feel as though they have always been more feminine than their body, when in actuality something in their development lead them to feel that way? Wouldn't a perceived gender also be socially constructed? If not, and this person was literally born a girl in a male sexed body... Doesn't that mean that gender (whether you fall in to the category of being more "boyish" or "girly") is at least partially set at birth/in the womb (so it isn't all nurture, there is also some nature in there too) ?