Gender options

[Greg Pulliam]

I think "sex" and "gender" are more or less synonymous in general
usage.  However, in certain specialized settings (such as my
intercultural communication class), we use the term sex to describe
the physical condition of being male or female, and gender to
designate the cultural roles of men and women.


Greg

>On Tue, 7 May 2002, Lynne Murphy wrote:
>
>>  One of the problems here is that 'male' and 'female' aren't
>>  genders--they're sexes.
>
>Why aren't "male" and "female" genders, Lynne?  The usage of "gender"
>you are criticizing is as old as the one you like.
>
>Fred Shapiro
>
>
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>Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
>Associate Librarian for Public Services     YALE DICTIONARY OF QUOTATIONS
>   and Lecturer in Legal Research            Yale University Press,
>Yale Law School                             forthcoming
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Greg Pulliam
Department of Humanities
Illinois Institute of Technology
Chicago