Sex or Gender?? Not to be confused!!

English is full of confusing pairs, and here comes another pair of words - "Sex or Gender". Using them not right may turn out to be embrassing. We can make that easy by remembering nouns have gender, whereas people have sex.

According to the American Medical Association Manual of Style, sex is referred to the classification of living things as male or female. It is the physical classification of being male or female.

Gender “refers to a person’s self-representation as man or woman, or how that person is responded to by social institutions on the basis of the person’s gender presentation.” Gender is also a category used to classify nouns, pronouns, and verbs (as masculine, feminine, or neutral). 

In most of the material I edit—clinical content for physicians and nurses—the authors use "gender," but they mean "sex."

Incorrect: "There are several factors that affect treatment such as viral load, current liver damage, lifestyle, age, and gender."

Correct: "There are several factors that affect treatment such as viral load, current liver damage, lifestyle, age, and sex."

Related to this topic is how to correctly use the words "male" and "female." Whenever possible, describe a person as a man or woman, boy, or girl. Using "male" and "female" as nouns can be dehumanizing and should be avoided.

Avoid: "Following the accident, a 30-year-old female was taken to the hospital."

Better: "Following the accident, a 30-year-old woman was taken to the hospital."

However, "male" and "female" can be appropriately used as adjectives.

Incorrect: "She is the first woman CEO of a high-tech company."

Correct: "She is the first female CEO of a high-tech company."

Using gender and sex and male and female—and other confusing word pairs—correctly can help your content be as precise and readable as possible.

Source- PR Daily