Gender and Sex: A Primer
There is no definitive answer to the question “what are gender and sex?” if we reject an essentialist approach to the topic. The question reeks of ambiguity: if there is no objective and independent nature to gender and sex, can we really answer the question? It would be a Sisyphean task. In its place, we can substitute two questions: How do we use these terms? How should we use these terms? Here are some possible answers.
In popular usage, sex or gender is a binary social category which results in the imposition of norms and stereotypes. Those norms and stereotypes differ depending on the assigned gender. The assignment of a gender category is usually predicated on anatomy and is understood to be immutable and binary.
In feminist usage, sex is a sociomedical category that subsumes human bodies under one of two biological archetypes in order to facilitate and naturalize gender assignment.
Gender, then, is a social categorisation attributed on the basis of sex and involves the imposition of several norms and stereotypes that vary depending on the assigned category.
In activist circles, gender or sex is a social categorisation based on gender identity, that is to say an authentic and deep feeling of belonging to a gender category, whether or not it fits into the male-female binary. Occasionally, activist feminists will adopt this sense for gender, but retain the feminist usage of sex.
Each of these definitions answers the first question from the perspective of a given social group. Unsurprisingly, words are used differently by different people. Beyond mere descriptive faithfulness, several arguments are used to justify each usage. The popular sense is most often justified through biological essentialism: gender and sex are seen as a natural grouping. Feminist understandings are often justified by conceptual clarity as well as a desire to de-naturalise the imposition of gender stereotypes and norms. Activist circles will usually justify their usage by the fact that the other two approaches are oppressive for trans and non-binary persons who too often suffer from the imposition of a gender or sex category which is not consistent with their gender identity. Respect for people’s gender identity primes, though the de-naturalisation of gender categories is an additional benefit.
