A Semantic Note on “Sex” and “Gender”
Leonard Sax
1. How does Leonard Sax challenge commonly accepted definitions of “sex” and “gender”?
Sex is a dichotomous biological variable. Humans are either female or male.
Gender is a continuous variable. Gender is socially constructed. Humans can be mostly feminine, mostly masculine, or anything in between.
These are two commonly accepted definitions of “sex” and “gender” according to a 2001 monograph published by the National Academies.
Leonard Sax challenges these definitions in two ways.
Firstly, he does not agree that gender is socially constructed, but is instead something that is inherent in our beings. He claims that the authors of the monograph assume that as there is a variation of gender presentation among members of one sex (I.E. in certain cases, some men are more feminine than masculine; some women are more masculine than feminine), gender must be socially constructed. Instead, he believes that while social factors might play a role in causing these variations, our gender traits are rather more caused by our own innate personalities than anything else. To prove his point, he points out that breast size (something most people see as an indicator of femininity) varies from person to person, regardless of male or female. While social factors may instigate some women to increase this or men to decrease this, it is truly an inborn factor to begin with.
Secondly, Leonard Sax believes that the definition of sex as described in the monograph is not entirely applicable in reality. In the sentence, “Girls often become more concerned with femininity as gender/sex becomes more salient”, the meanings of gender and sex are completely different. While gender refers here to the feminine identity, when ‘sex’ is used, it can be construed as referring more to the sexual activity rather than the definition of biological dichotomy as assumed above. With his example, Leonard Sax shows how these rules/definitions lead to ambiguity rather than precision.
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