https://www.etymonline.com/word/gender https://www.etymonline.com/word/gender "The "male-or-female sex" sense is attested in English from early 15c." So 15th

https://www.etymonline.com/word/gender https://www.etymonline.com/word/gender "The "male-or-female sex" sense is attested in English from early 15c." So 15th century, not 17th. "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." And from your own wikipedia links (which I'm assuming didn't fully read) "In the last two decades of the 20th century, the use of gender in academia has increased greatly, outnumbering uses of sex in the social sciences. While the spread of the word in science publications can be attributed to the influence of feminism, its use as a synonym for sex is attributed to the failure to grasp the distinction made in feminist theory, and the distinction has sometimes become blurred with the theory itself; David Haig stated, "Among the reasons that working scientists have given me for choosing gender rather than sex in biological contexts are desires to signal sympathy with feminist goals, to use a more academic term, or to avoid the connotation of copulation."[2]" Which is exactly what I said.