Distinguishing Between Sex and Gender: History, Current Conceptualizations, and Implications

Many psychologists, particularly feminist psychologists, have drawn a distinction between the term sex and the term gender. The purposes of this paper were to review the history of this distinction and to illustrate the varied and inconsistent ways in which these terms are used.

Historically, this distinction began with John Money and his colleagues in the 1950s (Money et al. 1955a, b, 1957); they used the term sex to refer to individuals’ physical characteristics and the term gender to refer to individuals’ psychological characteristics and behavior.

Two decades later, Rhoda Unger (1979) argued that the widespread use of the term sex implies biological causes and promotes the idea that differences between women and men are natural and immutable. She proposed the use of the term gender to refer to traits that are culturally assumed to be appropriate for women and men. Her work was influential in prompting a widespread shift from the use of the term sex to the use of the term gender in psychological texts.

Nevertheless, current definitions of sex and gender vary widely. Some authors use the terms interchangeably. Of those who distinguish between the terms, most construe gender as more related to cultural influences and sex as more related to biology.

There are numerous inconsistencies in authors’ definitions, however. Additionally, in some cases, there appears to be a mismatch between how researchers define sex or gender and how they measure it.

It seems likely that the distinction between the term sex and the term gender may become less meaningful and important over time.

I was trying to find out when gender stopped being a nicer word for “sex” and was “used to describe how people express their status as male or female…(it)refers to the characteristics, behaviours, and roles associated with being a woman, man, girl, or boy that are socially created. These include norms and relationships with each other. As a social construct, gender varies across societies and changes over time.”

It’s all the fault of John William Money (8 July 1921 – 7 July 2006), who per https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Money was a New Zealand American psychologist, sexologist and professor at Johns Hopkins University known for his research on human sexual behavior and gender.

Money advanced the use of more accurate terminology in sex research, coining the terms gender role and sexual orientation. Despite widespread popular belief, Money did not coin the term gender identity. Money pioneered drug treatment for sex offenders to extinguish their sex drives.

Since the 1990s, Money's work and research has been subject to significant academic and public scrutiny. A 1997 academic study criticized Money's work in many respects, particularly in regard to the involuntary sex-reassignment of the child David Reimer. Money allegedly coerced David and his brother Brian to perform sexual rehearsal with each other, which Money then photographed. David Reimer lived a troubled life, ending with his suicide at 38 following his brother's suicide.

Money believed that transgender people had an idée fixe, and established the Johns Hopkins Gender Identity Clinic in 1965. He screened adult patients for two years prior to granting them a medical transition, and believed sex roles should be de-stereotyped, so that masculine women would be less likely to desire transition. Money is generally viewed as a negative figure by the transgender community.

Money's writing has been translated into many languages and includes around 2,000 articles, books, chapters and reviews. He received around 65 honors, awards and degrees in his lifetime.

Gender is a grammatical term. In grammar, nouns, pronouns and adjectives come in one of three genders - masculine, feminine and neuter. Anybody who’s studied Latin or one of the inflected languages like Spanish knows this.

Sex is a biological term. In biology, biota - animals and plants - come in two sexes - male and female. The communists and malcontents who want to destroy civilization intentionally muddle reality by inventing additional sexes, calling them “genders”. There is no such thing.

John Money, like Alfred Kinsey, was a true predator under the guise of a researcher. He was active when I was in grad school in late 60s early 70s, even then he was considered kind of bizarre and out of the mainstream. Now that his real unethical misconduct has been revealed, he should be condemned.

Btw at that time, “gender” was not a term used by psychologists. The terms used were sex, sexual identity, and sex-role enactment. You were a male or a female, identified as a male or a female, congruent with your biology, and lived your life as one or the other, defined by prevailing social norms.

Nothing remotely like “transgenderism” was recognized except as a rare psychiatric disability; transvestism, ie cross dressing, or “drag,” was understood as a sexual aberration, not in the normal range of lifestyle choices. But that was back when psychology aspired to a level of rationality and scientific rigor no longer seen today.

Politicization and feminization has pretty well destroyed the field, and we all have seen the consequences.

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