Sex, gender, and the evolution of language

Last updated on: March 18, 2015 at 9:05 am by Jane the Actuary

Sex, gender, and the evolution of language 2015-03-18T09:05:01-06:00 Jane the Actuary

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Or, “wow, that was fast.”

Once upon a time, “gender” had one meaning: the linguistic differentiation, in various languages, between words which were masculine, feminine, or neuter, which dictates which articles and, depending on language, which adjective endings are used. It seems to me that people occasionally try to make the claim that whether a word is masculine or feminine in a given language says something about the culture.

Some time ago, in the 70s or 80s, feminists began using the term “gender” to refer to the concept that the differences between (typical) men and (typical) women are as much a matter of culture as biology. “Sex” was reduced to the biological differences between men and women. With the increasing promotion of rights and acceptance of people who, born of one sex, feel that, deep down, they really “are” the opposite sex, the entire concept of “sex differences” is being erased.

But what’s striking is this: “gender” has been adopted wholesale, and by people who don’t think they’re making a point about social construction of differences between the sexes, but more universally. I suspect that when rather ordinary people, or even conservatives who object to the feminist reasons for adopting the term “gender,” use it nonetheless, (a) they’re either not giving it any thought because it’s become normal, or (b) language has changed so much that “sex” has also been redefined — that is, to refer specifically to sexual intercourse or sexual assault, so that people feel uncomfortable with the word “sex” in any other context.

Just do a google search for “gender” and look at the news articles. Where a decade ago, we’d have said “sex discrimination,” it’s now “gender discrimination,” in Reuter’s “Novartis unit hit with $110 million gender discrimination suit.” Where we had “sexual equality,” it’s now “gender equality,” in “Thoughts on Gender Equality in Tech, Interrupted,” at the WSJ. There’s the “gender pay gap” in the Newsweek article, “Gender Pay Gap Won’t Close for Another 43 Years.”

It gets even more confused, as the reporting on a Florida bill requiring individuals to use the bathrooms corresponding to their biological sex gets translated as “Gender bathroom bill clears second panel,” in a local paper, with its first paragraphs stating,

Despite strong opposition from transgender Floridians, a second House panel approved a bill Thursday that would require people to use the bathrooms of their biological gender or the gender stated on their driver’s license or passport.

Transgender groups have called Rep. Frank Artiles’ HB 583 discriminatory because it would force transgender people to use the bathroom of the sex they were at birth, even though they may look like and identify as the opposite sex.

Perhaps this is all a matter of journalism’s stylebook dictating every one of these usages. But it impacts the rest of us, too.

Is this just what happens to language over time (though in this case, remarkably fast)? Or is this a dangerous redefinition, that will ultimately rob us of needed vocabulary?

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