3 ms·
Are you being disingenuous? The word has been used to denote "male-or-female sex" since the 15th century. The quote you say supports your timeline is with refer
by retrogradeorbit 9y ago
Are you being disingenuous? The word has been used to denote "male-or-female sex" since the 15th century. The quote you say supports your timeline is with reference to "the use of gender in academia" and states "to signal sympathy with feminist goals" and "to avoid the connotation of copulation". What evidence do you have that "Before then (1955) it was barely used outside of linguistics."?
- nostrademons 9y ago"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" That's not referring to its use in academia, that's its use in the general population, which was "at first regarded as colloquial or humorous". You can also take a look at the Google N-Gram viewer link I posted, which quantifies its use within general publications. Before the 1960s, it barely appeared, and then its use shot up to rival "sex".