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Is it normal in medicine to refer to a baby's physical sex as its "gender"? I'm not looking to start a debate on whether that is right or wrong, just curious to
by FearNotDaniel 7y ago
Is it normal in medicine to refer to a baby's physical sex as its "gender"? I'm not looking to start a debate on whether that is right or wrong, just curious to know if that's the common usage or just this particular writer's preference.
- LostJourneyman 7y agoIn medicine, at least in my experience, the terms are used fairly interchangeably.
- JasonFruit 7y agoI wonder why that is.
- noobiemcfoob 7y agoSimilar with scientists in my experience. Though it's more easily explained as the older generation sees the terms as interchangeable or not worth arguing about. The younger generation tends to use sex specifically and might call out improper use of gender. // "MICE DON'T HAVE GENDER!!!!" <- something I've heard at high volume too many times
- FearNotDaniel 7y agoInteresting the way it changes within a couple of generations, the "older generation" in my day, i.e. my dad - a linguist - would call out the then-modern interchangeable usage, by insisting "nouns have a gender, people have a sex!"
- robbrown451 7y agoSeems common to use both (I've heard gender used by doctors many times when it should probably technically be sex). To me gender means "male or female" but sex means "male or female or f*cking." I assume lots of people think that way and that's why they prefer the word gender.