How would you define gender?

Answer 1

Unfortunately, you have been given many incorrect responses. Gender is not the same thing as sex. While sex refer to biological characteristics (primary sexual characteristics are tied to reproduction, while secondary sexual characteristics are not), gender refers to cultural and social characteristics that are learned (i.e., masculinity and femininity) through socialization, including expectations for "appropriate" behavior; these characteristics are not inherently associated with biological sex, which is evidenced by the fact that gender expectations can change over time and vary cross-culturally. Also, humans have free will and can violate genered norms (e.g., it is possible for a man to wear lipstick).

Answer 2

It is said that the first thing we ask of a new-born baby is "Is it a boy or a girl?" But it might be considered that this is the first thing we ask ourselves whenever we meet anyone new. Perhaps this is why we find it so threatening if the cues are uncertain or ambiguous, and even more so if we find our first assumptions turn out to be incorrect.

Men are different from women. That would seem to be self-evident. They are different in aptitude, skill and behaviour, but then, so is every individual person. So why do we make such a fuss about it? It seems not unreasonable to suggest that the sexes are different because their brains are different, but then no two human brains are the same. It is suggested that our culture is in trouble because many women have been brought up to believe they should be as good as a man. Well, why not?

We will only touch on these topics briefly. There is enough material for a dozen books. Suffice it to say that all the studies report on the way boys and girls are, not how they got to be that way. Or rather how they were at the time of the study. Commonality across cultures and species implies some biological basis. The fact that the situation is changing reflects the power of socialisation.

Other stereotypes, that girls are more sociable, more nurturing, more compliant and have lower self-esteem, are hard to sustain. One that definitely seems to have disappeared over the last two decades is that girls have less motivation to achieve.

There are studies about relative abilities of perception, vision sound and touch. Certainly, if you watched a carpenter run his fingers along a planed surface and being able to tell how "true" it was, you would find it difficult to believe that boys lack tactile sensitivity.

Another is that girls tend to pick up auditory information while boys do better visually. Several studies suggested that, from school age on, boys outperformed girls in areas of mathematics involving abstract concepts of space, relationships and theory. It turned out that these were gifted pupils. The studies said nothing about the average boy or girl.

Why are girls more successful at school? Perhaps emphasis on communication in projects and exams submerges differences. Success at school nowadays depends on being able to writes essays and examination papers. If girls are better at verbal communication than boys, then they are likely to succeed. But, if there are more boys in remedial reading classes, does it not imply a serious defect in our educational system?

In general, men are taller and heavier than women. In sports, men tend to outperform women in strength and speed. Women seem to have greater endurance. In spite of many attempts, sports have never become completely unisex.

Answer 3

Gender is determined by a number of factors. Testing will tell us what chromosones are present, and the presence of secondary sex characteristics such as facial hair offer another clue. Genitalia is sometimes ambiguous, and the decision to refer to a new child as a he or she rests with the parents. Ultimately though, it is the person themself who defines thier place in society. Many people who are clearly male or female often feel or behave as a member of the opposite gender. So is it our bodies, or our minds?

Answer 4

The properties that distinguish organisms on the basis of their reproductive roles.

For a more lengthy definition of gender u might be interested to look up Wikipedia it explains origins and uses of gender.

Answer 5

Gender refers to the "maleness" or "femaleness" of a creature. It is a definition and a state of mind. It is not, however, a state of being, which is neutral.

Answer 6

gender is not determined by anatomy. rather it is defined by how male or female a person perceives herself or himself to be. this means that while male genitalia and male gender identity generally coincide within an individual, there are also many people whose sex is male (anatomically), but gender is female, and vice versa.

Answer 7

gender is determined by anatomy
if u have something noticeable down there, then ur a dude
if its long on the inside, ur a girl
there are some disorders that give someone "both", but only hermaphrodites have both...theres a rumor that singer ciara is a hermaphrodite, and shes still a girl and she had a boyfriend
ther are he-shes, but they are distinctly men or women

Answer 8

Biologically.

You either have dangly bits or you don't. Those who have both are an anomaly.

Gender doesn't have anything to do with homosexuality. Both sexes have both feminine and masculine attributes and tendencies. Homosexuals are deemed to be biologically more feminine (males) or masculine (females) than their heterosexual counterparts, but I don't know if that's necessarily true. I would say it is more likely that homosexuals are bisexual, and follow their natural urges and heterosexuals are bisexual, but do not, either because they are stifling these urges for societal reasons, or because they have no natural inclination to explore them.

Answer 9

a subclass within a grammatical class (as noun, pronoun, adjective, or verb) of a language that is partly arbitrary but also partly based on distinguishable characteristics (as shape, social rank, manner of existence, or sex)

membership of a word or a grammatical form in such a subclass
an inflectional form showing membership in such a subclass

a SEX the behavioral, cultural, or psychological traits typically associated with one sex

Answer 10

Gender (in humans) is determined by what they cover up in public :-).