Gender: Difference between revisions
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'''Gender''', for the purposes of this article, is the perceived or projected ([[self-identified]]) [[masculinity]] or [[femininity]] of a person |
'''Gender''', for the purposes of this article, is the perceived or projected ([[self-identified]]) [[masculinity]] or [[femininity]] of a person. A person's gender is complex, encompassing countless characteristics of appearance, speech, movement and other factors not solely limited to [[biological sex]]. |
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Societies may tend to assume [[binary]] categorizations for gender, seeing it as either [[male]] or [[female]], but this is not necessarily the case. |
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Gender is often, and incorrectly, used as a synonym for ''[[sex]]'', referring to the physical or [[Essense|essential]] characteristics commonly used to differentiate male from female. The [[English language|English]] [[noun]] "gender" is derived from the [[French language|Old French]] [[word]] ''genre'', meaning "kind of thing". It goes back to the [[Latin]] word ''genus'' (meaning "kind", "species"). |
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There is debate over to what extent gender is a [[social construct]] and to what extent it is a [[biological construct]]. At the extremes of these views you have [[constructionism]] which suggests that it is entirely a [[social construct]] and [[essentialism]] which suggests that it's entirely a [[biological construct]]. |
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This aggregate gender is often not easily categorized simply, although societies may tend to assume simple [[binary]] categorizations, as Western culture on the basis of what is often seen as natural sex division. The extreme of this belief is called [[essentialism]], while its opposition is [[constructionism]]. Gender associations are constantly being renegotiated, as, for example, the color pink, considered masculine in the early 1900s, is now seen as feminine, and vice versa for blue. Gender is also evolving in this usage from noun to adjective: it is increasingly being seen as an attribute (like color) rather than as a distinct entity in itself. |
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Gender associations are constantly changing as society progesses. For example, the color pink was considered masculine in the early 1900s and is now seen as feminine. |
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Unlike most East Asian, African, or Native American languages, in the [[grammar]] of [[Indo-European]] languages - e.g., [[Sanskrit]]; [[Greek language|Greek]]; [[Latin]] and its successors, the Romance languages; and the Slavic and Germanic Languages - nouns and pronouns are said to have a [[grammatical gender]]. This is the original use of the term as a metaphor for sex (masculine and feminine nouns from male and female people), dating to [[Protagoras]] in the fifth century, and dismay can still be found concerning the term's replacement of [[sex]]. |
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==See also== |
==See also== |
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Revision as of 12:45, 17 May 2005
Gender, for the purposes of this article, is the perceived or projected (self-identified) masculinity or femininity of a person. A person's gender is complex, encompassing countless characteristics of appearance, speech, movement and other factors not solely limited to biological sex.
Societies may tend to assume binary categorizations for gender, seeing it as either male or female, but this is not necessarily the case.
There is debate over to what extent gender is a social construct and to what extent it is a biological construct. At the extremes of these views you have constructionism which suggests that it is entirely a social construct and essentialism which suggests that it's entirely a biological construct.
Gender associations are constantly changing as society progesses. For example, the color pink was considered masculine in the early 1900s and is now seen as feminine.
See also
- gender identity
- gender role
- queer studies
- list of transgender-related topics
- Queer
- homosexuality
- transgender
- stereotype