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In the Oxford English Dictionary, gender is defined as—in a modern and especially feminist use—"a euphemism for the sex of a human being, often intended to emphasize the social and cultural, as opposed to the biological, distinctions between the sexes", with the earliest example cited being from 1963. [53]
The term gender had been associated with grammar for most of history and only started to move towards it being a malleable cultural construct in the 1950s and 1960s. [27] Before the terminological distinction between biological sex and gender as a role developed, it was uncommon to use the word gender to refer to anything but grammatical ...
Biological sex is conceptually distinct from gender, [13] [14] although they are often used interchangeably. [15] [16] The adjective female can describe a person's sex or gender identity. [6] The word can also refer to the shape of connectors and fasteners, such as screws, electrical pins, and technical equipment.
[71] [70] [72] It is distinct from the definition of the biological female sex, [73] [74] as both men and women can exhibit feminine traits. Most women are cisgender, meaning their female sex assignment at birth corresponds with their female gender identity. Some women are transgender, meaning they were assigned male at birth. [6]
Gender identity is the personal sense of one's own gender. [1] Gender identity can correlate with a person's assigned sex or can differ from it. In most individuals, the various biological determinants of sex are congruent and consistent with the individual's gender identity. [2]
Gender essentialism is a metaphysical theory which attributes distinct, intrinsic qualities to women and men. [1] [2] [3] Based in essentialism, it holds that there are certain universal, innate, biologically (or psychologically) based features of gender that are at the root of many of the group differences observed in the behavior of men and women.
Others are demonstrable across cultures and have both biological and learned determinants. For example, some studies claim girls are, on average, more verbally fluent than boys, but boys are, on average, better at spatial calculation.
In humans, the word male can be used in the context of gender, such as for gender role or gender identity of a man or boy. [7] For example, according to Merriam-Webster, "male" can refer to "having a gender identity that is the opposite of female". [24] According to the Cambridge Dictionary, "male" can mean "belonging or relating to men". [25]