Gender: Difference between revisions

Another old and mostly non-political definition of gender is as a synonym to [[sex]], i.e. the categorization of an organism with respect to its role in binary reproduction.  This use of the word is popular presumably because of the vulgar connotations the word "sex" might be perceived to have.  The use of "gender" as a synonym for "sex" likewise seem to date back all the way to the 15th century, and can be found even in academic texts which clearly deal with a strictly biology-based reproductive categorization of organisms.

Similar to the use of gender to mean sex, the words "feminine" and "masculine" are also sometimes used as close approximations of "female" and "male".  In biology, it is not uncommon to hear terms such as "feminization" or "masculinization" when referring to anatomic developments associated with the female and male sexes.  Similarly, the euphemism ''feminine hygiene products'' is often used to refer to menstrual hygiene products, relating clearly to the female sex.