What is gender and what is sex? Are they the same thing?

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   danicoleposted 10 years ago

   What is gender and what is sex? Are they the same thing?
   
   A few weeks ago, an CNN Piers Morgan interview with transgender bestselling author, Janet Mock touched on some debates about gender. What is gender? What is sex? Are they the same thing? Are they related?

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2. 0

   sheilamyersposted 10 years ago

   I would say that both words when used to ask about whether a person is male or female mean the same thing. In my mind, to prefer to use "gender" instead of "sex" is more related to political correctness.

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      danicoleposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Cool thanks for answering

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   dashingscorpioposted 10 years ago

   Not always. Sex can actually mean engaging in an act of coitus.
   However on an application form that asks one to choose their sex (male or female) it is referring to one's gender. I have never seen an application or form mention the word (gender) in the U.S. They always say (sex) and sometimes I just write the word (yes). LOL!

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      dashingscorpioposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Hermaphrodites are babies born with both male and female organs. Some parents elect to have surgery or wait to see what the child decides. Maybe gender is not just physical but also has a mental component as well. Transgender people mention mindset

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      danicoleposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      what about for transgendered people? thanks for giving your insight so far

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   3. 70

      dashingscorpioposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Transgender people often site mentally or in their heart they feel like they are one gender while physically appearing to be another. Their goal is to seek 'alignment'. Typically gay and lesbian people have no desire to transgender. Must be mental.

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   TwerkZerkerposted 10 years ago

   We went over this in my college sociology class...and now I'm trying to remember back to it! LOL!
   
   I think the way it was explained to us is that "sex" refers to one's biology. Someone is either born male or female, thus male or female (whichever applies, obviously) is the person's sex.
   
   But gender, while most-often aligned with a person's sex, isn't actually rooted in biology. Instead, I think it's rooted in society. I'm trying to remember, but I think that "gender" is the "role" that society concocts for a given sex to fit into.
   
   So if someone is "male" or "female", that's the person's sex.
   
   And if someone is "masculine" or "feminine", that's descriptive of the person's gender (but this is based on what society deems to be "masculine" or "feminine" or whatever).

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