77-466: Her is the objective and possessive form of the English-language feminine pronoun she . Her , HER or H.E.R. may also refer to: She (pronoun) In Modern English , she is a singular , feminine , third-person pronoun . In Standard Modern English, she has four shapes representing five distinct word forms : Old English had a single third-person pronoun – from
154-557: A Proto-Indo-European (PIE) root * ǵénh₁- 'to beget', which is also the source of kin , kind , king , and many other English words, with cognates widely attested in many Indo-European languages . It appears in Modern French in the word genre (type, kind, also genre sexuel ) and is related to the Greek root gen- (to produce), appearing in gene , genesis , and oxygen . The Oxford Etymological Dictionary of
231-467: A "private cause behind manifest behaviours". Historically, most societies have recognized only two distinct, broad classes of gender roles, a binary of masculine and feminine, largely corresponding to the biological sexes of male and female. When a baby is born, society allocates the child to one gender or the other, on the basis of what their genitals resemble. However, some societies have historically acknowledged and even honored people who fulfill
308-961: A baby is clothed in or what toys they are given to play with. However, a person's gender does not always align with what has been assigned at birth. Factors other than learned behaviors play a role in the development of gender. The article Adolescent Gender-Role Identity and Mental Health: Gender Intensification Revisited focuses on the work of Heather A. Priess, Sara M. Lindberg, and Janet Shibley Hyde on whether or not girls and boys diverge in their gender identities during adolescent years. The researchers based their work on ideas previously mentioned by Hill and Lynch in their gender intensification hypothesis in that signals and messages from parents determine and affect their children's gender role identities. This hypothesis argues that parents affect their children's gender role identities and that different interactions spent with either parents will affect gender intensification. Priess and among other's study did not support
385-421: A bibliography of 12,000 references on marriage and family from 1900 to 1964, the term gender does not even emerge once. Analysis of more than 30 million academic article titles from 1945 to 2001 showed that the uses of the term "gender" , were much rarer than uses of "sex" , was often used as a grammatical category early in this period. By the end of this period, uses of "gender" outnumbered uses of "sex" in
462-540: A common culture among participants concerned. According to social identity theory , an important component of the self-concept is derived from memberships in social groups and categories; this is demonstrated by group processes and how inter-group relationships impact significantly on individuals' self perception and behaviors. The groups people belong to therefore provide members with the definition of who they are and how they should behave within their social sphere. Categorizing males and females into social roles creates
539-414: A deeper analysis of how interactions between the biological being and the social environment influence individuals' capacities. The philosopher and feminist Simone de Beauvoir applied existentialism to women's experience of life: "One is not born a woman, one becomes one." In context, this is a philosophical statement. However, it may be analyzed in terms of biology—a girl must pass puberty to become
616-421: A fluctuating gender identity, or being third gender or other-gendered. Recognition of non-binary genders is still somewhat new to mainstream Western culture, and non-binary people may face increased risk of assault, harassment, and discrimination. Two instruments incorporating the multidimensional nature of masculinity and femininity have dominated gender identity research: The Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) and
693-713: A gender role that exists more in the middle of the continuum between the feminine and masculine polarity. For example, the Hawaiian māhū , who occupy "a place in the middle" between male and female, or the Ojibwe ikwekaazo , "men who choose to function as women", or ininiikaazo , "women who function as men". In the language of the sociology of gender , some of these people may be considered third gender , especially by those in gender studies or anthropology. Contemporary Native American and FNIM people who fulfill these traditional roles in their communities may also participate in
770-584: A girl after his genitals were accidentally mutilated is cited as disproving the theory that gender identity is determined solely by parenting. Reimer's case is used by organizations such as the Intersex Society of North America to caution against needlessly modifying the genitals of unconsenting minors. Between the 1960s and 2000, many other male newborns and infants were surgically and socially reassigned as females if they were born with malformed penises, or if they lost their penises in accidents. At
847-501: A history which warrants the heightened scrutiny we afford all gender-based classifications today", and stated "When state actors exercise peremptory challenges in reliance on gender stereotypes, they ratify and reinforce prejudicial views of the relative abilities of men and women." The word was still widely used, however, in the specific sense of grammatical gender (the assignment of nouns to categories such as masculine , feminine and neuter ). According to Aristotle , this concept
SECTION 10
#1732773306453924-534: A manner as possible. A 2005 review of these cases found that about half of natal males reassigned female lived as women in adulthood, including those who knew their medical history, suggesting that gender assignment and related social factors has a major, though not determinative, influence on eventual gender identity. In 2015, the American Academy of Pediatrics released a webinar series on gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender, etc. In
1001-472: A more academic term, or to avoid the connotation of copulation." Haig also notes that "gender" became the preferred term when discussing phenomena for which the social versus biological cause was unknown, disputed, or actually an interaction between the two. In 1993, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) started to use gender instead of sex to avoid confusion with sexual intercourse . Later, in 2011,
1078-785: A number of different areas: in sociology during the 1950s; from the theories of the psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan ; and in the work of French psychoanalysts like Julia Kristeva , Luce Irigaray , and American feminists such as Judith Butler . Those who followed Butler came to regard gender roles as a practice, sometimes referred to as " performative ". Charles E. Hurst states that some people think sex will, "...automatically determine one's gender demeanor and role (social) as well as one's sexual orientation " (sexual attractions and behavior). Gender sociologists believe that people have cultural origins and habits for dealing with gender. For example, Michael Schwalbe believes that humans must be taught how to act appropriately in their designated gender to fill
1155-473: A personal identification with a particular gender and gender role in society. The term woman has historically been used interchangeably with reference to the female body, though more recently this usage has been viewed as controversial by some feminists . There are qualitative analyses that explore and present the representations of gender; however, feminists challenge these dominant ideologies concerning gender roles and biological sex. One's biological sex
1232-483: A problem for some individuals who feel they have to be at one end of a linear spectrum and must identify themselves as man or woman, rather than being allowed to choose a section in between. Globally, communities interpret biological differences between men and women to create a set of social expectations that define the behaviors that are "appropriate" for men and women and determine their different access to rights, resources, power in society and health behaviors. Although
1309-733: A role in the gender system. The coauthors argue that daily people are forced to acknowledge and interact with others in ways that are related to gender. Every day, individuals are interacting with each other and comply with society's set standard of hegemonic beliefs, which includes gender roles. They state that society's hegemonic cultural beliefs sets the rules which in turn create the setting for which social relational contexts are to take place. Ridgeway and Correll then shift their topic towards sex categorization. The authors define sex categorization as "the sociocognitive process by which we label another as male or female." The failure of an attempt to raise David Reimer from infancy through adolescence as
1386-496: A scientific trade journal in 1955. In the seminal 1955 paper, he defined it as "all those things that a person says or does to disclose himself or herself as having the status of boy or man, girl or woman." The modern academic sense of the word, in the context of social roles of men and women, dates at least back to 1945, and was popularized and developed by the feminist movement from the 1970s onwards (see Feminist theory and gender studies below), which theorizes that human nature
1463-543: A society where we present our genders so distinctly, there can often be severe consequences for breaking these cultural norms. Many of these consequences are rooted in discrimination based on sexual orientation. Gays and lesbians are often discriminated against in our legal system because of societal prejudices. Hurst describes how this discrimination works against people for breaking gender norms, no matter what their sexual orientation is. He says that "courts often confuse sex, gender, and sexual orientation, and confuse them in
1540-425: A synonym for sex during the twentieth century, initially as a euphemism, as sex was undergoing its own usage shift toward referring to sexual intercourse rather than male/female categories. During the last two decades of the 20th century, gender was often used as a synonym for sex in its non-copulatory senses, especially outside the social sciences. David Haig , writing in 2003, said "the sex/gender distinction
1617-437: A tradition that incorporates all the features above. In addition to these traditionally recognized third genders, many cultures now recognize, to differing degrees, various non-binary gender identities . People who are non-binary (or genderqueer) have gender identities that are not exclusively masculine or feminine. They may identify as having an overlap of gender identities, having two or more genders, having no gender, having
SECTION 20
#17327733064531694-500: A woman—and sociology, as a great deal of mature relating in social contexts is learned rather than instinctive. Within feminist theory , terminology for gender issues developed over the 1970s. In the 1974 edition of Masculine/Feminine or Human , the author uses "innate gender" and "learned sex roles", but in the 1978 edition, the use of sex and gender is reversed. By 1980, most feminist writings had agreed on using gender only for socioculturally adapted traits . Gender studies
1771-420: Is a field of interdisciplinary study and academic field devoted to gender, gender identity and gendered representation as central categories of analysis. This field includes Women's studies (concerning women , feminity , their gender roles and politics, and feminism ), Men's studies (concerning men , masculinity , their gender roles , and politics), and LGBT studies . Sometimes Gender studies
1848-422: Is a biological concept; gender is a human social and cultural concept." However, Poiani (2010) notes that the question of whether behavioural similarities across species can be associated with gender identity or not is "an issue of no easy resolution", and suggests that mental states, such as gender identity, are more accessible in humans than other species due to their capacity for language. Poiani suggests that
1925-430: Is a central characteristic for social organization . The word is also used as a synonym for sex, and the balance between these usages has shifted over time. In the mid-20th century, a terminological distinction in modern English (known as the sex and gender distinction ) between biological sex and gender began to develop in the academic areas of psychology , sociology , sexology , and feminism . Before
2002-482: Is based on the cultural norms of that society, which lead to the creation of gender systems . The gender system is the basis of social patterns in many societies, which include the separation of sexes, and the primacy of masculine norms. Philosopher Michel Foucault said that as sexual subjects, humans are the object of power, which is not an institution or structure, rather it is a signifier or name attributed to "complex strategical situation". Because of this, "power"
2079-465: Is commonly used to refer to the biological sex of the animals. According to biologist Michael J. Ryan , gender identity is a concept exclusively applied to humans. Also, in a letter Ellen Ketterson writes, "[w]hen asked, my colleagues in the Department of Gender Studies agreed that the term gender could be properly applied only to humans, because it involves one's self-concept as man or woman. Sex
2156-426: Is defined as the actions or responses that may reveal their status as boy, man, girl or woman, respectively. Elements surrounding gender roles include clothing, speech patterns, movement, occupations, and other factors not limited to biological sex. In contrast to taxonomic approaches, some feminist philosophers have argued that gender "is a vast orchestration of subtle mediations between oneself and others", rather than
2233-438: Is discordance between the natal sex of one's external genitalia and the brain coding of one's gender as masculine or feminine. Although causation from the biological— genetic and hormonal —to the behavioral has been broadly demonstrated and accepted, Money is careful to also note that understanding of the causal chains from biology to behavior in sex and gender issues is very far from complete. Money had previously stated that in
2310-425: Is divided into two categories, and people are considered part of one or the other ( girls / women and boys / men ); those who are outside these groups may fall under the umbrella term non-binary . A number of societies have specific genders besides "man" and "woman," such as the hijras of South Asia ; these are often referred to as third genders (and fourth genders , etc.). Most scholars agree that gender
2387-436: Is essentially epicene and social distinctions based on sex are arbitrarily constructed. In this context, matters pertaining to this theoretical process of social construction were labelled matters of gender . The popular use of gender simply as an alternative to sex (as a biological category) is also widespread, although attempts are still made to preserve the distinction. The American Heritage Dictionary (2000) uses
Her - Misplaced Pages Continue
2464-506: Is far from proved", despite recent research demonstrating sophisticated cognitive skills among non-human primates and other species. Hird (2006) has also stated that whether or not non-human animals consider themselves to be feminine or masculine is a "difficult, if not impossible, question to answer", as this would require "judgements about what constitutes femininity or masculinity in any given species". Nonetheless, she asserts that "non-human animals do experience femininity and masculinity to
2541-507: Is female. "I am not permitted to construct my gender and sex willy-nilly," she said. "[This] is so because gender is politically and therefore socially controlled. Rather than 'woman' being something one is, it is something one does." More recent criticisms of Judith Butler's theories critique her writing for reinforcing the very conventional dichotomies of gender. According to gender theorist Kate Bornstein , gender can have ambiguity and fluidity . There are two contrasting ideas regarding
2618-498: Is identical in any culture, what that specific sex means in reference to a person's gender role as a man or a woman in society varies cross-culturally according to what things are considered to be masculine or feminine. These roles are learned from various, intersecting sources such as parental influences, the socialization a child receives in school, and what is portrayed in the local media. Learning gender roles starts from birth and includes seemingly simple things like what color outfits
2695-497: Is now only fitfully observed." Within the social sciences, however, use of gender in academia increased greatly, outnumbering uses of sex during that same period. In the natural sciences, gender was more often used as a synonym for sex . This can be attributed to the influence of feminism. Haig stated, "Among the reasons that working [natural] scientists have given me for choosing gender rather than sex in biological contexts are desires to signal sympathy with feminist goals, to use
2772-611: Is offered together with Study of Sexuality . These disciplines study gender and sexuality in the fields of literature and language, history , political science , sociology , anthropology , cinema and media studies , human development, law, and medicine. It also analyses race , ethnicity , location , nationality , and disability . In gender studies, the term gender refers to proposed social and cultural constructions of masculinities and femininities. In this context, gender explicitly excludes reference to biological differences, to focus on cultural differences. This emerged from
2849-406: Is oftentimes tied to specific social roles and expectations. Judith Butler considers the concept of being a woman to have more challenges, owing not only to society's viewing women as a social category but also as a felt sense of self, a culturally conditioned or constructed subjective identity. Social identity refers to the common identification with a collectivity or social category that creates
2926-407: Is the morphologically and chronologically preferable hēo . Once again we have syllabicity shift and vowel reduction, giving [heo̯] > [he̯o] > [hjoː] . Then [hj-] > [ç-] , and [ç-] > [ʃ-] , giving final [ʃoː] . This does not lead to the modern form she / ʃ iː / . So any solution that gets [ʃ] from /eo/ also needs to 'correct' the resultant /oː/ (outside
3003-489: Is the only feminine pronoun in English. She is occasionally used as a gender neutral , third-person, singular pronoun (see also singular they ). She can appear as a subject , object , determiner or predicative complement . The reflexive form also appears as an adjunct . She occasionally appears as a modifier in a noun phrase. Pronouns rarely take dependents , but it is possible for she to have many of
3080-450: Is what determines individual attributes, behaviors, etc. and people are a part of an ontologically and epistemologically constructed set of names and labels . For example, being female characterizes one as a woman, and being a woman signifies one as weak, emotional, and irrational, and incapable of actions attributed to a "man". Butler said that gender and sex are more like verbs than nouns. She reasoned that her actions are limited because she
3157-443: Is your own sense or conviction of maleness or femaleness; and gender role is the cultural stereotype of what is masculine and feminine. Causality with respect to gender identity disorder is sub-divisible into genetic, prenatal hormonal, postnatal social, and post-pubertal hormonal determinants, but there is, as yet, no comprehensive and detailed theory of causality. Gender coding in the brain is bipolar. In gender identity disorder, there
Her - Misplaced Pages Continue
3234-552: The ). Others propose it descends directly from the third-person feminine pronoun: In Middle English, the Old English system collapses, due to the gradual loss of þe and the replacement of the paradigm se , seo , þæt by indeclinable that . A more likely account is what is sometimes called the 'Shetland Theory', since it assumes a development parallel to that of Shetland < OScand. Hjaltland , Shapinsay < Hjalpandisey , etc. The starting point
3311-851: The Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ). Both instruments categorize individuals as either being sex typed (males report themselves as identifying primarily with masculine traits, females report themselves as identifying primarily with feminine traits), cross sex-typed (males report themselves as identifying primarily with feminine traits, females report themselves as identifying primarily with masculine traits), androgynous (either males or females who report themselves as high on both masculine and feminine traits) or undifferentiated (either males or females who report themselves as low on both masculine and feminine traits). Twenge (1997) noted that men are generally more masculine than women and women generally more feminine than men, but
3388-481: The Proto-Germanic demonstrative base * khi- , from PIE * ko- ' this ' – which had a plural and three genders in the singular. In early Middle English , one case was lost, and distinct pronouns started to develop. The modern pronoun it developed out of the neuter, singular in the 12th century. Her developed out of the feminine singular dative and genitive forms. The older pronoun had
3465-467: The WHO . The social sciences have a branch devoted to gender studies . Other sciences, such as psychology , sociology , sexology , and neuroscience , are interested in the subject. The social sciences sometimes approach gender as a social construct , and gender studies particularly does, while research in the natural sciences investigates whether biological differences in females and males influence
3542-400: The "socialized obverse of sex". Simone de Beauvoir 's 1949 book The Second Sex has been interpreted as the beginning of the distinction between sex and gender in feminist theory , although this interpretation is contested by many feminist theorists, including Sara Heinämaa. Controversial sexologist John Money coined the term gender role , and was the first to use it in print in
3619-414: The 1950s, American teenage girls who had been exposed to androgenic steroids by their mothers in utero exhibited more traditionally masculine behavior, such as being more concerned about their future career than marriage, wearing pants, and not being interested in jewelry. There are studies concerning women who have a condition called congenital adrenal hyperplasia , which leads to the overproduction of
3696-701: The English Language of 1882 defined gender as kind, breed, sex , derived from the Latin ablative case of genus , like genere natus , which refers to birth. The first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED1, Volume 4, 1900) notes the original meaning of gender as "kind" had already become obsolete. The concept of gender, in the modern social science sense, is a recent invention in human history. The ancient world had no basis of understanding gender as it has been understood in
3773-457: The FDA reversed its position and began using sex as the biological classification and gender as "a person's self-representation as male or female, or how that person is responded to by social institutions based on the individual's gender presentation." In legal cases alleging discrimination , a 2006 law review article by Meredith Render notes "as notions of gender and sexuality have evolved over
3850-568: The Gender System: A Theoretical Perspective on Gender Beliefs and Social Relations", Cecilia Ridgeway and Shelley Correll , argue that gender is more than an identity or role but is something that is institutionalized through "social relational contexts." Ridgeway and Correll define "social relational contexts" as "any situation in which individuals define themselves in relation to others in order to act." They also point out that in addition to social relational contexts, cultural beliefs plays
3927-399: The assigned gender. The assignment of gender involves taking into account the physiological and biological attributes assigned by nature followed by the imposition of the socially constructed conduct. Gender is a term used to exemplify the attributes that a society or culture constitutes as "masculine" or "feminine". Although a person's sex as male or female stands as a biological fact that
SECTION 50
#17327733064534004-589: The association between biological sex and masculinity/femininity is waning. Some gendered behavior is influenced by prenatal and early life androgen exposure. This includes, for example, gender normative play, self-identification with a gender, and tendency to engage in aggressive behavior. Males of most mammals, including humans, exhibit more rough and tumble play behavior, which is influenced by maternal testosterone levels. These levels may also influence sexuality, with non-heterosexual persons exhibiting sex atypical behavior in childhood. The biology of gender became
4081-477: The definition of gender, and the intersection of both of them is definable as below: The World Health Organization defines gender as "the characteristics of women, men, girls and boys that are socially constructed". The beliefs, values and attitude taken up and exhibited by them is as per the agreed upon norms of the society and the personal opinion of the person is not taken into the primary consideration of assignment of gender and imposition of gender roles as per
4158-595: The development of gender in humans; both inform the debate about how far biological differences influence the formation of gender identity and gendered behavior. Biopsychosocial approaches to gender include biological, psychological, and social/cultural aspects. The modern English word gender comes from the Middle English gender , gendre , a loanword from Anglo-Norman and Middle French gendre . This, in turn, came from Latin genus . Both words mean "kind", "type", or "sort". They derive ultimately from
4235-463: The extent that any given species' behaviour is gender segregated." Despite this, Poiani and Dixson emphasise the applicability of the concept of gender role to non-human animals such as rodents throughout their book. The concept of gender role has also been applied to non-human primates such as rhesus monkeys . Biologist and feminist academic Anne Fausto-Sterling rejects the discourse of biological versus social determinism and advocates
4312-437: The first lecture Sherer explains that parents' influence (through punishment and reward of behavior) can influence gender expression but not gender identity . Sherer argued that kids will modify their gender expression to seek reward from their parents and society, but this will not affect their gender identity (their internal sense of self). Sexologist John Money coined the term gender role in 1955. The term gender role
4389-437: The following forms: The evolution of she is disputed. By Middle English, it was found in the form schē [ʃeː] , but how it arrived there is unclear. Some sources propose it evolved from the demonstrative pronoun : [...] probably evolving from Old English seo , sio (accusative sie ), fem. of demonstrative pronoun (masc. se ) ' the ' , from PIE root * so- ' this, that ' (see
4466-420: The following two sentences to illustrate the difference, noting that the distinction "is useful in principle, but it is by no means widely observed, and considerable variation in usage occurs at all levels." The effectiveness of the medication appears to depend on the sex (not gender) of the patient. In peasant societies, gender (not sex) roles are likely to be more clearly defined. Gender identity refers to
4543-437: The humanities and social sciences for the past few decades. The term gender had been associated with grammar for most of history and only started to move towards it being a malleable cultural construct in the 1950s and 1960s. Before the terminological distinction between biological sex and gender as a role developed, it was uncommon to use the word gender to refer to anything but grammatical categories . For example, in
4620-463: The hypothesis of Hill and Lynch which stated "that as adolescents experience these and other socializing influences, they will become more stereotypical in their gender-role identities and gendered attitudes and behaviors." However, the researchers did state that perhaps the hypothesis Hill and Lynch proposed was true in the past but is not true now due to changes in the population of teens in respect to their gender-role identities. Authors of "Unpacking
4697-403: The last few decades, legal theories concerning what it means to discriminate "because of sex" under Title VII have experienced a similar evolution". In a 1999 law review article proposing a legal definition of sex that "emphasizes gender self-identification," Julie Greenberg writes, "Most legislation utilizes the word 'sex,' yet courts, legislators, and administrative agencies often substitute
SECTION 60
#17327733064534774-613: The masculine sex hormone , androgen . These women usually have ordinary female appearances (though nearly all girls with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) have corrective surgery performed on their genitals). However, despite taking hormone-balancing medication given to them at birth, these females are statistically more likely to be interested in activities traditionally linked to males than female activities. Psychology professor and CAH researcher Dr. Sheri Berenbaum attributes these differences to an exposure of higher levels of male sex hormones in utero. In non-human animal research, gender
4851-597: The mid-20th century, it was uncommon to use the word gender to refer to anything but grammatical categories . In the West, in the 1970s, feminist theory embraced the concept of a distinction between biological sex and the social construct of gender . The distinction between gender and sex is made by most contemporary social scientists in Western countries, behavioral scientists and biologists, many legal systems and government bodies, and intergovernmental agencies such as
4928-470: The modern, two-spirit community, however, these umbrella terms, neologisms, and ways of viewing gender are not necessarily the type of cultural constructs that more traditional members of these communities agree with. The hijras of India and Pakistan are often cited as third gender . Another example may be the muxe (pronounced [ˈmuʃe] ), found in the state of Oaxaca, in southern Mexico. The Bugis people of Sulawesi , Indonesia have
5005-560: The north) to /eː/. This means an analogical transfer of (probably) the /eː/ of he . None of this is entirely plausible. The -self forms developed in early Middle English, with hire self becoming herself. By the 15th century, the Middle English forms of she had solidified into those we use today. Historically, she was encompassed in he as he had three genders in Old English. The neuter and feminine genders split off during Middle English. Today, she
5082-434: The owner . She can also be used for countries as political entities, but not as geographical entities. Many English style guides discourage the use of she for countries or inanimate objects; such use may be considered dated or sexist. "She" may refer to a particular goddess or to a monotheistic God when regarded as female. In this case it may be written "She" with reverential capitalization . In 1999, she
5159-403: The potential number of species with members possessing a gender identity must be limited due to the requirement for self-consciousness . Jacques Balthazart suggests that "there is no animal model for studying sexual identity. It is impossible to ask an animal, whatever its species, to what sex it belongs." He notes that "this would imply that the animal is aware of its own body and sex, which
5236-569: The role properly, and that the way people behave as masculine or feminine interacts with social expectations. Schwalbe comments that humans "are the results of many people embracing and acting on similar ideas". People do this through everything from clothing and hairstyle to relationship and employment choices. Schwalbe believes that these distinctions are important, because society wants to identify and categorize people as soon as we see them. They need to place people into distinct categories to know how we should feel about them. Hurst comments that in
5313-510: The same kind of dependents as other noun phrases . She 's referents are generally limited to individual, female persons , excluding the speaker and the addressee. She is always definite and usually specific . The pronoun she can also be used to refer to an unspecified person, as in If you see someone in trouble, help her . She has traditionally been used for ships, but can also be used for other inanimate objects of significance to
5390-527: The social sciences, arts, and humanities. It was in the 1970s that feminist scholars adopted the term gender as way of distinguishing "socially constructed" aspects of male–female differences (gender) from "biologically determined" aspects (sex). As of 2024, many dictionaries list "synonym for 'sex'" as one of gender' s meanings, alongside its sociocultural meaning. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, gender came into use as
5467-427: The specific nature and degree of these differences vary from one society to the next, they still tend to typically favor men, creating an imbalance in power and gender inequalities within most societies. Many cultures have different systems of norms and beliefs based on gender, but there is no universal standard to a masculine or feminine role across all cultures. Social roles of men and women in relation to each other
5544-428: The subject of an expanding number of studies over the course of the late 20th century. One of the earliest areas of interest was what became known as "gender identity disorder" (GID) and which is now also described as gender dysphoria . Studies in this, and related areas, inform the following summary of the subject by John Money. He stated: The term "gender role" appeared in print first in 1955. The term gender identity
5621-467: The time, surgical reconstruction of the vagina was more advanced than reconstruction of the penis , leading many doctors and psychologists, including John Money who oversaw Reimer's case, to recommend sex reassignment based on the idea that these patients would be happiest living as women with functioning genitalia. Available evidence indicates that in such instances, parents were deeply committed to raising these children as girls and in as gender-typical
5698-538: The word 'gender' for 'sex' when they interpret these statutes." In J.E.B. v. Alabama ex rel. T.B. , a 1994 United States Supreme Court case addressing "whether the Equal Protection Clause forbids intentional discrimination on the basis of gender", the majority opinion noted that with regard to gender, "It is necessary only to acknowledge that 'our Nation has had a long and unfortunate history of sex discrimination,' id. , at 684, 93 S.Ct., at 1769,
5775-487: Was introduced by the Greek philosopher Protagoras . In 1926, Henry Watson Fowler stated that the definition of the word pertained to this grammar-related meaning: "Gender...is a grammatical term only. To talk of persons...of the masculine or feminine g[ender], meaning of the male or female sex, is either a jocularity (permissible or not according to context) or a blunder." In 1945, Madison Bentley defined gender as
5852-500: Was selected as the word of the millennium by the American Dialect Society . Gender Gender includes the social, psychological, cultural and behavioral aspects of being a man , woman , or other gender identity . Depending on the context, this may include sex -based social constructs (i.e. gender roles ) as well as gender expression . Most cultures use a gender binary , in which gender
5929-406: Was used in a press release, 21 November 1966, to announce the new clinic for transsexuals at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. It was disseminated in the media worldwide, and soon entered the vernacular. The definitions of gender and gender identity vary on a doctrinal basis. In popularized and scientifically debased usage, sex is what you are biologically; gender is what you become socially; gender identity
#452547