Good morning ,
To me, the debate about sex and gender is relatively
straightforward:
- there are 2 sexes, defined by an individual's capacity to produce large gametes (eggs) or small gametes (sperm)
- sex is expressed through secondary sex characteristics (bodily and behavioural)
- such secondary bodily characteristics and behavioural patterns vary and overlap - most males have
some female characteristics and vice versa. These varying and overlapping patterns have been (fairly recently) labelled 'gender'
- a signficant problem arises when we (society) use the word 'gender' as a polite synonym for the word 'sex' - because it induces confusion about sex (which is binary) and gender (which is not binary but occurs along a spectrum).
These relatively straightforward facts (ie, the definition of sex and the definition of gender) are greatly complicated by widespread post-modernist activism that blurs biological reality with Critical Theory ideology.
NB: the RSA has no formal policy position on this matter. But my personal view is that this debate is a matter of science, not sociology. Please watch the presentation by Colin Wright below.
I look forward to being smothered by outraged critics...
