Sex and gender: what is the difference?

[Felix]

Journal of Applied Physiology
Britta N. Torgrimson and Christopher T. Minson
Department of Human Physiology,
University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon
http://jap.physiology.org/content/99/3/785

The term gender is becoming more common in scientific publications to describe biological variation traditionally assigned to sex, and this nonspecific language merits a standardized approach. Increasingly, researchers are becoming aware of the appropriate use of the terms sex vs. gender. Still, some scientists are vaguely aware that a distinction exists between these terms or that this difference is an important one. The purpose of this article is to publicize the necessity for implementing a standardized use of the terms sex and gender in physiology. Thus this article will present a general history examining the transition in the frequency of use of the term gender instead of sex in physiology, present standard definitions by promoting the recommendation from the Institute of Medicine (IOM), and provide examples of appropriate use of these terms in reference to specific contexts.

[lilacwoman]

I go with sex being physical and gender being mental but then here in Uk any TS who gets a 'Gender' Recognition Certifiacte is legally intersexed at birth regardless of 99.999999% of the body being whatever sex the midwife first saw as the UK realises that gender defines the person.
That .0000001 is the BSTC that defines a TS - and in UK an intersex such as myself.
I'm an intersex/female which doesn't sound quite right but that is the legal reality in the UK but in European Community I'm a female as there are only two sexes in the EU.

[Stephe]

Journal of Applied Physiology
Britta N. Torgrimson and Christopher T. Minson
Department of Human Physiology,
University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon
http://jap.physiology.org/content/99/3/785

The term gender is becoming more common in scientific publications to describe biological variation traditionally assigned to sex, and this nonspecific language merits a standardized approach. Increasingly, researchers are becoming aware of the appropriate use of the terms sex vs. gender. Still, some scientists are vaguely aware that a distinction exists between these terms or that this difference is an important one. The purpose of this article is to publicize the necessity for implementing a standardized use of the terms sex and gender in physiology. Thus this article will present a general history examining the transition in the frequency of use of the term gender instead of sex in physiology, present standard definitions by promoting the recommendation from the Institute of Medicine (IOM), and provide examples of appropriate use of these terms in reference to specific contexts.

You would think scientists writing a detailed paper would know the difference between sex and gender?

[Felix]

You would think scientists writing a detailed paper would know the difference between sex and gender?

Yeah but they're just people. I used to spend all my time in academia and I still know a few scientists, and everybody has gaps in their knowledge. Especially social knowledge. Medical researchers often only ever take note of sex or gender because they've been told to, and the governing bodies tend not to differentiate the terms themselves.

[justmeinoz]

First week into Gender Studies at Uni and despite all the ground covered in such a short time, I would have to stick with the "Sex is between your legs, Gender is between your ears" definition.
Basically Sex is embodied, and Gender is a creation of our consciousness.  It will vary from place to place and with time. It is never static.
Everything else is a discussion of how we "do gender."

Karen.