Editing Gender (section)

==== As distinct from sex ====

In 1945, [[I. Madison Bentley|Madison Bentley]] defined ''gender'' as the "socialized obverse of sex".<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Bentley|first=Madison|date=April 1945|title=Sanity and Hazard in Childhood|url=https://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1417846|journal=The American Journal of Psychology|volume=58|issue=2|pages=212–246|doi=10.2307/1417846|jstor=1417846|issn=0002-9556|access-date=17 August 2021|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Horley|first1=James|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VyGpDAAAQBAJ|title=Experience, Meaning, and Identity in Sexuality: A Psychosocial Theory of Sexual Stability and Change|last2=Clarke|first2=Jan|year=2016|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-1-137-40096-3|pages=24|language=en|access-date=17 August 2021|archive-date=17 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210817114235/https://books.google.com/books?id=VyGpDAAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> [[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]],<ref>{{Cite book|last=Witt|first=Charlotte E.|url=https://worldcat.org/oclc/780208834|title=Feminist metaphysics: explorations in the ontology of sex, gender and identity|date=2011|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-90-481-3782-4|pages=48|oclc=780208834|access-date=6 September 2021|archive-date=17 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220217115729/https://www.worldcat.org/title/feminist-metaphysics-explorations-in-the-ontology-of-sex-gender-and-identity/oclc/780208834|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Butler>[[Judith Butler|Butler, Judith]], "Sex and Gender in Simone de Beauvoir's Second Sex" in ''Yale French Studies'', No. 72 (1986), pp. 35–49.</ref> although this interpretation is contested by many feminist theorists, including Sara Heinämaa.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Heinämaa |first1=Sara |date=1997 |title=What Is a Woman? Butler and Beauvoir on the Foundations of the Sexual Difference |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1527-2001.1997.tb00169.x |journal=Hypatia |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=20–39 |doi=10.1111/j.1527-2001.1997.tb00169.x |s2cid=143621442 |access-date=8 February 2023|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Viveros Vigoya |first=Mara |editor-first1=Lisa |editor-first2=Mary |editor-last1=Disch |editor-last2=Hawkesworth |editor-link2=Mary Hawkesworth |date=2016 |title=Sex/Gender |url=https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/34617/chapter/294782665 |access-date=2023-12-24 |website=academic.oup.com |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199328581.013.42|isbn=978-0-19-932858-1 }}</ref>

Controversial sexologist [[John Money]] coined the term ''gender role'',<ref>{{Cite web |last=Brewington |first=Kelly |date=2006 |title=Hopkins pioneer in gender identity |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/2006/07/09/hopkins-pioneer-in-gender-identity/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100413172855/http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2006-07-09/news/0607090031_1_gender-johns-hopkins-john-money |archive-date=April 13, 2010 |access-date=April 7, 2023 |url-status=live |website=Baltimore Sun}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Goldie |first1=Professor Department of English Terry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kbjjAwAAQBAJ |title=The Man Who Invented Gender: Engaging the Ideas of John Money |last2=Goldie |first2=Terry |year=2014 |publisher=UBC Press |isbn=978-0-7748-2794-2 |language=en}}</ref> and was the first to use it in print in a scientific trade journal in 1955.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Money |first=J. |date=1994 |title=The concept of gender identity disorder in childhood and adolescence after 39 years |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7996589/ |journal=Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy |volume=20 |issue=3 |pages=163–177 |doi=10.1080/00926239408403428 |issn=0092-623X |pmid=7996589}}</ref><ref name="drescher">{{Cite journal |last=Drescher |first=Jack |date=2010-03-31 |title=Transsexualism, Gender Identity Disorder and the DSM |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19359701003589637 |journal=Journal of Gay & Lesbian Mental Health |language=en |volume=14 |issue=2 |pages=109–122 |doi=10.1080/19359701003589637 |issn=1935-9705|url-access=subscription }}</ref> 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."<ref name="Basic-Concepts">{{cite journal |last1=Money |first1=John |author-link1=John Money |last2=Hampson |first2=Joan G |last3=Hampson |first3=John |date=October 1955 |title=An Examination of Some Basic Sexual Concepts: The Evidence of Human Hermaphroditism |journal=Bull. Johns Hopkins Hosp. |volume=97 |issue=4 |pages=301–19 |quote=By the term, gender role, we mean 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, respectively. It includes, but is not restricted to sexuality in the sense of eroticism. Gender role is appraised in relation to the following: general mannerisms, deportment and demeanor, play preferences and recreational interests; spontaneous topics of talk in unprompted conversation and casual comment; content of dreams, daydreams, and fantasies; replies to oblique inquiries and projective tests; evidence of erotic practices and, finally, the person's own replies to direct inquiry. |pmid=13260820}}</ref>

The modern academic sense of the word, in the context of social roles of men and women, dates at least back to 1945,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/77468 |title=''gender'', n. |page=Sense 3(b) |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |website=Oxford English Dictionary Online |publisher=Oxford English Dictionary |access-date=2017-01-05 |archive-date=21 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170721193428/https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/77468 |url-status=live }}</ref> and was popularized and developed by the feminist movement from the 1970s onwards (see [[Gender#Feminist theory|feminist theory]] and [[Gender#Gender studies|gender studies]] below), which theorizes that human nature is essentially [[Epicenity|epicene]] and social distinctions based on sex are arbitrarily constructed. In this context, matters pertaining to this theoretical process of [[Social construction of gender|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 ''[[The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language|American Heritage Dictionary]]'' (2000) uses 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."<ref name="difference">[https://www.bartleby.com/61/59/G0075900.html Usage note: ''Gender''], {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060321144225/https://bartleby.com/61/59/G0075900.html |date=21 March 2006 }} ''The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language'', Fourth Edition, (2000).</ref>

{{blockquote|The effectiveness of the medication appears to depend on the sex (not gender) of the patient.<br />In peasant societies, gender (not sex) roles are likely to be more clearly defined.}}