Running head: SEX VERSUS GENDER 1
Sex Versus Gender
Regina R. Michalik
Lehigh Carbon Community College
SEX VERSUS GENDER 2
ABSTRACT
This paper consists of the various ways the word “sex” and the word “gender” are used in both
the written language and in everyday speech. This paper cites Douglas A. Gentile’s article on
sex and gender. Both Douglas A. Gentile and Robert S. Feldman state a similar definition for the
word “sex” and for the word “gender”. There are several definitions listed in this paper for the
both the word “sex” and the word “gender”. This author also lists her chosen definitions for both
words.
SEX VERSUS GENDER 3
Sex Versus Gender
The main idea of the article, JUST WHAT ARE SEX AND GENDER, ANYWAY?, A Call
for a New Terminological Standard, appears to be to convey the various ways the words “sex”
and “gender” are used and the many histories of each of the two words.
The author, Douglas A. Gentile, is often confused with other’s usage of the terms “sex” and
“gender”. Wishing to prove the lack of clarity in the usage of both words and the difficulties that
The Term Paper on Genetics Sex Gender
Genetics: Issues of IVF, screening, pre-selection, genetic testing, cloning and the social implications. James Watson once said, We used to think that our fate was in our stars. Now we know that, in large measure, our fate is in our Genes (Jaroff 1998). On June 26 th 2000, The Human Genome Project will unveil its rough draft mapping of the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sequences within the human ...
are often presented due to this lack of clarity, the author lists many of the definitions for each of
the words. He also wishes to set a vocabulary standard for each of the words, in hope of solving
the clarity problem. The author goes on to state several meanings for both terms, one dating
back as far as 1382. This particular definition reminded me of something from a Harry Potter
novel or movie.
The term “gender” is often used to mean the same thing as word “sex”, but they are not
actually the same. Sex typically refers to sexual anatomy and sexual behavior, whereas gender
refers to the social perceptions of maleness and femaleness. All cultures prescribe gender roles
for males and females, but those roles differ greatly from one culture to another. This is
described in our textbook, Development Across the Life Span, by Robert S. Feldman. Both
Douglas A. Gentile and Robert S. Feldman state gender as the sense of being male or female and
sex as anatomy or biology related.
It has been established previously in this article, as well as, numerous other places the many
and vastly different definitions for the words “sex” and “gender”. I have read many of them, and
I found the following definitions of both the word “gender” and the word “sex” to be my
particular favorite in its explanation of each term. Gender-a wide set of characteristics used to
distinguish male or female. In biology, sex is a process of combining and mixing genetic traits,
often resulting in the specialization of organisms into a male or female variety (known as a sex).
SEX VERSUS GENDER 4
I found both the definition for gender and the definition for sex on Wikipedia on the internet.
