GC: n
S: APS – https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/japplphysiol.00376.2005 (last access: 06 May 2021); ELSEV – https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/027753959390076L (last access: 06 May 2021).
N: 1. c. 1300, “kind, sort, class, a class or kind of persons or things sharing certain traits,” from Old French gendre, genre “kind, species; character; gender” (12c., Modern French genre), from stem of Latin genus (genitive generis) “race, stock, family; kind, rank, order; species,” also “(male or female) sex,” from PIE root *gene- “give birth, beget,” with derivatives referring to procreation and familial and tribal groups.
Also used in Latin to translate Aristotle’s Greek grammatical term genos. The grammatical sense is attested in English from late 14c. The unetymological -d- is a phonetic accretion in Old French.
The “male-or-female sex” sense is attested in English from early 15c. As sex (n.) took on erotic qualities in 20c., gender came to be the usual English word for “sex of a human being,” in which use it was at first regarded as colloquial or humorous. Later often in feminist writing with reference to social attributes as much as biological qualities; this sense first attested 1963. Gender-bender is from 1977, popularized from 1980, with reference to pop star David Bowie.
2. The behavioral, cultural, or psychological traits typically associated with one sex.
3. In 1979, Rhoda Unger argued that the widespread use of the term sex implies biological causes and promotes the idea that differences between women and men are natural and immutable. She proposed the use of the term gender to refer to traits that are culturally assumed to be appropriate for women and men. Her work was influential in prompting a widespread shift from the use of the term sex to the use of the term gender in psychological texts. Nevertheless, current definitions of sex and gender vary widely. Some authors use the terms interchangeably. Of those who distinguish between the terms, most construe gender as more related to cultural influences and sex as more related to biology. There are numerous inconsistencies in authors’ definitions, however. Additionally, in some cases, there appears to be a mismatch between how researchers define sex or gender and how they measure it. It seems likely that the distinction between the term sex and the term gender may become less meaningful and important over time.
S: 1. Etymonline – https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=gender (last access: 06 May 2021). 2. MW – https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gender (last access: 06 May 2021). 3. SPRINGER – https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11199-011-9932-5 (last access: 06 May 2021)
SYN:
S:
