Gender
Gender
From
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gender symbols intertwined. The red (left) is
the female Venus symbol. The blue (right) represents the male Mars symbol.
Gender is the range of
characteristics pertaining to, and differentiating between, masculinity and femininity.
Depending on the context, these characteristics may include biological sex (i.e., the state
of being male, female, or an intersex variation),
sex-based social structures (i.e., gender roles),
or gender identity.[1][2][3] Traditionally, people who identify as
men or women or use masculine or feminine gender pronouns are using a system
of gender binary whereas those who exist outside these groups fall under
the umbrella terms non-binary or genderqueer. Some cultures have specific gender roles that are distinct
from "man" and "woman," such as the hijras of South Asia.
These are often referred to as third genders.
Sexologist John Money introduced
the terminological distinction between biological sex and
gender as a role in 1955. Before
his work, it was uncommon to use the word gender to refer to
anything but grammatical categories.[1][2] However, Money's meaning of the word did
not become widespread until the 1970s, when feminist theory embraced the concept of a distinction between biological
sex and the social construct of
gender. Today, the
distinction is followed in some contexts, especially the social sciences[4][5] and documents written by the World Health
Organization (WHO).[3]
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