Let's hear the difference between Gender and s*x?

Question

I don't think many people know that there's a difference.

Can someone give us the difference/definitions please?

Answer 1

I always understood that s*x was whether you were biologically male or female (ie, your parts and your genes) and gender was the social and psychological aspects of that; ie. whether you "acted" or "felt" male or female and what your society at large expected of you with regards to that gender.

Or something like that.

(Last anthro lecture I took was 8 years ago, I'm a bit rusty!)

Answer 2

idk.. cuz i dont think theres a difference at all

Answer 3

I always thought that s*x was biological and gender was social (and that s*x influences gender.)

But in the dictionary, they have the same meaning.

s*x

"The s*x of a person or animal is their characteristic of being either male or female."

Gender

"Gender is the s*x of a person or animal."

Perhaps the change is a fairly recent one, and the definiton hasn't been altered yet... or maybe I'm just wrong. Lol.

Answer 4

ah another person that does not see the connection ok let me break it down for you and please be willing to listen instead of writing off a differing opinion.

s*x is a scientific term to describe physical differences between men and women,

gender is a social term to describe certain roles and attributes associated with the sexes

Now, it is also a scientific fact that that the s*x of a person will ultimately affect the way he or she will relate to others, for instance if a school decided to make wrestling and college wrestling a coed sport, you can be rest assured that numerous "bulges" and "tents" will appear during these contests and many boys and girls will feel akward doing it. Now...what does that tell you? it means that even though in theory women and men could have co-ed wrestling,in practice it might not be the brightest of ideas because a guy wrestling a girl and rubbing his body close to hers in a cirlce while they are intertwined in a lock on the floor will not feel the same way he would feel if he was doing it with another guy (do you get what i am saying?) this shows you that s*x ultimately affects the way an individual socializes and acts towards members of the individual's opposite s*x thus there is a correlation between s*x and gender.

Answer 5

s*x is your biological assignment. Gender is the characteristics that result from your s*x; often your sexual identity.

Answer 6

THEY'RE SYNONYMS! Geez

Answer 7

Basically the same thing.

Like midgets and little people.  One is just a PC term.

In any case, one begets the other in a natural state.  Wouldn't really worry about it.

Answer 8

they are synonyms they mean : if female or male so there are no differences between both of them their just spelled differently that's it

Answer 9

s*x is biological, and definate (nominal) - usually chromosonal.

Gender is psychological, and culturally defined. So your gender can be different to your s*x. Some people think there are five (or more) genders.

This is why any (decent) academic paper will use the term "s*x" and not gender when comparing males and females. Unless they've actually gone to the hassle of determining everyone's gender

Answer 10

Gender is a reference for language, like masculine, feminine, or neutral.

s*x is what you are as a person like a man or a woman.  

It drives me crazy to hear people refer to a person's gender when they really mean their s*x!

Answer 11

As explained in the dictionary (which defines words):

Gender:

1. Grammar. a. (in many languages) a set of classes that together include all nouns, membership in a particular class being shown by the form of the noun itself or by the form or choice of words that modify, replace, or otherwise refer to the noun, as, in English, the choice of he to replace the man, of she to replace the woman, of it to replace the table, of it or she to replace the ship. The number of genders in different languages varies from 2 to more than 20; often the classification correlates in part with s*x or animateness. The most familiar sets of genders are of three classes (as masculine, feminine, and neuter in Latin and German) or of two (as common and neuter in Dutch, or masculine and feminine in French and Spanish).  

b. one class of such a set.  

c. such classes or sets collectively or in general.  

d. membership of a word or grammatical form, or an inflectional form showing membership, in such a class.  



2. s*x: the feminine gender.  

3. Archaic. kind, sort, or class.  

s*x:

noun 1. either the male or female division of a species, esp. as differentiated with reference to the reproductive functions.  

2. the sum of the structural and functional differences by which the male and female are distinguished, or the phenomena or behavior dependent on these differences.  

3. the instinct or attraction drawing one s*x toward another, or its manifestation in life and conduct.

Answer 12

s*x is whether you are male of female.  p***s or v****a.  Gender is masculine or feminine.  The way you behave.  What you associate with.  s*x has to deal with the physical aspects and gender has to deal with behaviors and how you identify with yourself.

Answer 13

I found a syllabus for a sociology course that defines as follows:

"s*x refers to biological differences; chromosomes, hormonal profiles, internal and external s*x organs.

Gender describes the characteristics that a society or culture delineates as masculine or feminine."

But I'm copying and pasting. I have never studied sociology or psychology, so I'm completely out of my element.

Answer 14

there's no difference worth worrying about

Answer 15

They mean the same thing unless your talking about doin' it!

Answer 16

This is a a very valid question.

Everyone has what we call a "lexicon". This describes all the words people know. Attached to each word is a set of definitions, feelings, etc. Each person understands any word slightly different than any other person understands that word.

For most people, "gender" and "s*x" are virtually synonymous. People in the "social sciences" try to change this, and force on us the idea that one refers to anatomy, genes, etc and the other to something else.

Its for this reason and others that those of us in the sciences (physics, chemistry, biology, even linguistics) tend to look down on people in the "social sciences". People in the social sciences have virtually no understanding of science. If they only took a basic course in linguistics, they would know that it is futile go around forcing their lame politically correct definitions down everyone's throats. Unfortunately for them, most don't posses much intelligence, so they will never understand this.

In conclusion: don't feel bad if you think they are synonyms - they ARE! (for most of us). Even in the most intellectual communities they are synonyms, so don't sweat it. The only people who will tell you otherwise are not worth your time.

Answer 17

Gender can be classified into 3: masculine, feminine & neutral while s*x into 2: male & female.

Answer 18

s*x refers to the biological state of male or female.

Gender is the social roles assigned to a s*x, or assumed by a s*x.