What Happened to the Word "Sex"?

 

"sex"这个词怎么了?

What ever happened to sex? I had to fill out a government form the other day and it ask for my gender, giving town boxes to check, male or female.

"sex"这个词怎么了?某天我得填一份官方表格，上面要求我填写性别是男是女。

It wasn't too many years ago that it would have asked for my sex, male of female.

几年前这样的表格性别栏还用的是"sex"一词。

When did the term "gender" replace "sex" to describe the difference between males and females? And why? The term "gender" has become ubiquitous.

是何时"gender"这个术语开始取代了"sex", 用来区分男女性别的不同?"gender"一词又为什么普遍适用了呢?

My old college dictionary says that sex is a difference among living beings, as in the male and female sex, while gender is a difference in some languages partially corresponding to the natural order, in which the names of objects are either of masculine, feminine, or neuter gender.

我翻看过去的大学辞典，上面显示"sex"一词代表生物的差异，如男性和女性，而"gender"这个词是指某些语言中部分对应的自然顺序的区别，比如所要形容的对象是阳性，阴性还是中性。

The most recent American Heritage Dictionary advises that, while gender has traditionally been used to refer to grammatical categories,

最新的美国传统词典指出，"gender"一词历来被用来指语法范畴。

the word has been used in recent years to refer to sexual identity or sex-based social or cultural categories.

近年来，这个词已经被用来表达性别认知或以性别为基础的社会和文化类别之中。

According to Stoller, an early pioneer in gender identity research, "sex" is defined as the sum of physiological differences between male and female.

斯托勒是性别认知研究领域的先驱，他认为，"sex"一词应该定义为男性和女性的生理差异的总和。

In contrast, "gender" is viewed as a strictly psychological phenomenon and refers to the sum of behavioral or psychological differences between the sexes.

相比之下，"gender"则被视为严格的心理现象，是指两性之间的行为或心理差异的总和。

So there is an important difference between sex and gender. The sex of a person is biologically determined. The gender of a person is culturally and socially determined.

因此，"sex"和"gender"之间有重要的区别。一个人的"sex"是生物因素决定的, 而"gender"则由文化和社会种种因素决定。

The past two decades have produced a wide body of academic literature on gender, along with corresponding university and college departments, centers and courses focusing on the issues of gender identity and gender studies.

过去二十年间已经产生了大量以性别为研究主题的学术文献，以及有关性别认知和性别研究中主要问题的大学，学院部门，研究中心和课程。

Textbooks for such courses all agree that gender refers to the roles attached to biological sex; femininity and masculinity in this view are mere social concepts.

此类课程的教科书中都一致认同"gender"是指生物的性别角色，这个概念下，是女性还是男性仅仅是一种社会观念。

As one correspondent puts it, "Sex refers to a biological statement of fact. Gender is the way one is socialized according to some standard of behavior associated with a role."

正如一位记者所说的那样，"sex是指一种生物的事实陈述。"gender"是社会根据一些标准与你的行为举止所判定你扮演的角色"。

"Only women can bear children, but not only women can be mothers."

"只有女性能怀孕生子，但这并不代表只有女性能扮演母亲的角色"。

It is now clear that when the government asked for my gender, there was something more involved than wanting to know my biological sex.

现在我清楚那份表格中问我"gender"的时候，远不是仅仅想要知道我的生物性别那么简单。

There are only two sexes, but at least six if not eight genders: male, female, lesbian, homosexual or gay, bisexual of both sexes and transgendered of both sexes.

只有男女两种"sex",但却有至少6中"gender": 男性，女性，女同性恋，男同性恋，双性恋和变形男女。

The simple change from "sex" to "gender" on a form hints a change in how we are coming to view our society and how it is being restructured.

我们从表格中"sex"到"gender"的用词变化，可以隐隐感受到人们看待社会和社会格局的变化。