Best of the Week: Sex and Gender

Gender: the behavioral, cultural, or psychological traits typically associated with one sex 

Sex: either of the two major forms of individuals that occur in many species and that are distinguished respectively as male or female especially on the basis of their reproductive organs or structures 

I learned something new past this week; Sex and Gender are different words, with different meanings. Surprised? Yea, I was too. For as long as I can remember, sex and gender have been used interchangeably and are the same thing and a female was a girl, and a male was a boy. And as far as I've known, genetically, anatomically, physically, and mentally, everyone's sex and gender have agreed with each other. Now I haven't been living under a rock, but I think I just didn't acknowledge these differences. It's not new that people have had conflicting feelings about their gender and sexuality, but suddenly this has been an issue that every presidential candidate has to have a stance on, and every normal person has their own opinions on too.  

So, when we discussed in class if there was a difference between sex and gender, I completely doubted that there was a difference between the two. I have absolutely nothing against the LBGTQ groups, but I didn't think anything of it. If your a male, your a male, if you're female, you're female. Every human being is biologically one or the other. No debates. It's scientifically proven. But, when we read the definitions of the words in class, I admit, I was wrong. You can't biologically or scientifically prove gender. It's based on thoughts and feelings. So does that mean, that if I filled out a survey that asked my gender and I wanted to say I was a boy, I could? And if a boy was filling out a survey, could he say he was a girl? Could someone be male, yet be a girl? Female, yet a boy? Am I ignorant to the obvious, or have the differences of the two words been masked from society? I think the ladder. I'm not pointing fingers, or blaming anyone, but I am sure that the majority of people don't recognize that sex and gender are not the same thing. It is not that they ignore this, they just don't know. 

Now that I know this information, I'm not going to suddenly start preaching that people use these words in the wrong context, or that they are not acknowledging that it might be a sensitive subject for someone. I think I'll let the two words create a meaning inside of me, and I can guarantee that every time someone uses either of the terms, I'll think about their true meaning.  Most of the time, a male is a male in both sex and gender, and a female is a female as well. The difference between the two words seem small because they don't apply to most people, but the difference is huge for some. How hard would it be to be a female boy and not have anybody understand? I can't exactly relate, but I think that now I have a better understanding of what the words mean and how they apply to people who truly have different sex and genders, it opens my mind to a plethora of subjects that surround around the disagreement of two simple words, and how I can help by knowing that sex and gender are different words, with different meanings.