Difference between revisions of "Sex"
Totototo49 (Talk | contribs) m (sp) |
m (Reverted edits by Totototo49 (Talk); changed back to last version by Ed Poor) |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
| − | + | '''Gender''' is the attribute of being either [[male]] or [[female]]. | |
| + | |||
| + | An organism's sex category reflects its biological reproductive function rather than its sexuality or other behavior (see [[gender role]]). The female sex is defined as the one which produces the larger [[gamete]] (the egg) and which typically bears the offspring. In contrast, the male sex has a smaller gamete (sperm) and rarely bears offspring. In some animals, sex may be assigned to specific structures rather than the entire organism. Earthworms, for example, are normally [[hermaphrodites]]. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Alternatively, "gender" may be defined to be the norm of social conduct, based on sex. That is, "sex" defines what is biologically present, whereas "gender" defines what society expects of persons of different sexes. The distinction is important in law, as it tends to forbid discrimination on the basis of either, e.g. effeminate men cannot be fired for not acting according to their "gender". In other areas the distinction is primarily important for more abstracted social and legal arguments, rather than everyday use. | ||
| + | |||
| + | '''Gender''' may also mean [[grammar|grammatical]] gender, an attribute of nouns and adjectives in some languages. A word's grammatical gender may or may not correspond to the gender of what the word describes. | ||
[[category:biology]] | [[category:biology]] | ||
[[category:sociology]] | [[category:sociology]] | ||
[[Category:Sexuality]] | [[Category:Sexuality]] | ||
Revision as of 12:53, April 20, 2008
Gender is the attribute of being either male or female.
An organism's sex category reflects its biological reproductive function rather than its sexuality or other behavior (see gender role). The female sex is defined as the one which produces the larger gamete (the egg) and which typically bears the offspring. In contrast, the male sex has a smaller gamete (sperm) and rarely bears offspring. In some animals, sex may be assigned to specific structures rather than the entire organism. Earthworms, for example, are normally hermaphrodites.
Alternatively, "gender" may be defined to be the norm of social conduct, based on sex. That is, "sex" defines what is biologically present, whereas "gender" defines what society expects of persons of different sexes. The distinction is important in law, as it tends to forbid discrimination on the basis of either, e.g. effeminate men cannot be fired for not acting according to their "gender". In other areas the distinction is primarily important for more abstracted social and legal arguments, rather than everyday use.
Gender may also mean grammatical gender, an attribute of nouns and adjectives in some languages. A word's grammatical gender may or may not correspond to the gender of what the word describes.
