Sex

[triskellian]

(Edited to remove spoiler. Whoops.)

I've been studying The Passion of New Eve and The Wasp Factory, and this question came up in the class:

(Edited again ;-) Can't seem to change the poll options now it's done, but I mean 'sex' in the question, not 'gender' (thanks, onebyone). Also, everyone gets to see which way you vote, in case you're bothered by that sort of thing.)

[Poll #141730]

OK, I'm not entirely sure about the phrasing, and I've forgotten the difference between 'sex' and 'gender', but I'm interested. Oh, and I've never done a poll before ;-)

And my answer is... that the fact that I'm a girl is a pretty big deal in how I see myself. This probably surprises no one ;-)

Comments

[venta.livejournal.com]

Er, that could be regarded as a reasonably major Wasp Factory spoiler, y'know :)

Out of interest, why the use of the word "femaleness"? Do you see it as meaning something different to "femininity"? Just curious.

[onebyone.livejournal.com]

Er, that could be regarded as a reasonably major Wasp Factory spoiler, y'know :)

Only now that you've said it is. Not that it matters, because it's impossible to spoil the endings of Banks' books any more than he already has himself.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Only now that you've said it is

Actually, I disagree with you on that, but to debate it here would be mean more spoilers. And possibly be dull to boot.

The writing at the end of the Wasp Factory always reminded me of the way I finished stories at junior school when I as sick of them and wanted them to go away...

[triskellian]

There's kind of a point to the different writing at the end, but, yeah, I basically agree with you ;-) Rather annoying to find the first book I've ever had to study that I've already read is one I really don't like ;-(

[triskellian]

Thanks for pointing out the spoiler. I wasn't thinking! I've changed it now.

I used 'femaleness' instead of 'femininity' roughly because 'femininity' has a bunch of extra baggage in addition to the bare fact of the sex/gender (someone please help me out on the difference!) of the body. And, especially in recovery from reading those two books, 'femininity' and 'masculinity' are conjuring up for me the stereotypical traits taken to extremes.

I don't like 'femaleness' or 'maleness' as words (they both feel clumsy), so maybe I'm just tying myself in unecessary knots ;-)

[onebyone.livejournal.com]

sex/gender (someone please help me out on the difference!)

Sex is what bits you've got.

Gender is either a grammatical term with a loose connection to sex and which is not much use in English, or else it is the social roles and personality types generally associated with the sexes but which can be expressed by members of either sex.

[cardinalsin.livejournal.com]

As far as I remember (more expert people can correct me),

Sex is your actual biological, well, sex. I seem to remember lecturers characterising it as either/or (i.e. either your male or female) but that's clearly wrong. However, in most cases it can be usefully said to be either/or.

Gender is how you (and perhaps others) categorise you, in terms of gendered attributes. It is explicitly not either/or, since most people have both masculine and feminine attributes.

Obviously, gender (and depending on your viewpoint, sex) can be seen as socially constructed anyway. But that's another story.

[smiorgan.livejournal.com]

1. Grammar.
A grammatical category used in the classification of nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and, in some languages, verbs that may be arbitrary or based on characteristics such as sex or animacy and that determines agreement with or selection of modifiers, referents, or grammatical forms.
One category of such a set.
The classification of a word or grammatical form in such a category.
The distinguishing form or forms used.
2. Sexual identity, especially in relation to society or culture.
3.
a)The condition of being female or male; sex.
b)Females or males considered as a group: expressions used by one gender.