GED109 Module Paper 1

The document discusses the differences between sex and gender. It explains that sex refers to the biological and physical attributes of being male or female, while gender refers to the cultural and social roles associated with masculinity and femininity. It explores how the body and gender are interrelated yet distinct, and how recognizing the separation of the two can help address issues like discrimination faced by the LGBTQ+ community. Overall, the document seeks to clarify misunderstandings about sex and gender and promote acceptance of all identities.

Uploaded by

Alexander Azriel Angeles

We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.

Available Formats

Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

0% found this document useful (0 votes)

48 views2 pages

GED109 Module Paper 1

Uploaded by

Alexander Azriel Angeles

We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.

Available Formats

Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

You are on page 1/ 2

Understanding the Differences Between Sex and Gender

(751)
Before reading the article, I used to think that the terms ‘male’ and ‘female’ refers
to the gender and sex of a person since both doesn’t sound different to each other.
However, after reading the article, I now know that ‘male’ and ‘female’ pertains to the
physical and biological attribute of the person, which is their sex. On the other hand,
people’s gender is the cultural and physical attribute, thus the use of the terms
‘feminine’ for women and ‘masculine’ for men. I used to think that there is only little to no
relation and difference between the isolation of one’s body to its social importance.
However, after reading the article, I now think that the two can’t be separated and must
go altogether always, as both are very significant to a person. This is because the body
of a person has a neutral and passive ability with regards to the formation of one’s
consciousness. Also, people bear this ability immediately by birth, whether they are
male or female. I used to think that one of the causes on the gender issues of today is
about the socialization of men to masculinity, and female to femininity. However, after
reading the article, I now think that one of the reasons for these issues to occur is that
these kinds of behaviors are being placed under the network of social meaning, and
valuing of one over the other. And this can result to mischaracterization on relations of
difference to relations of inferiority and superiority.
The first one that is unclear to me was the different spheres that affect the sex or
gender distinction between people. Some of the spheres are biological, social,
psychological, and cultural. The second is the concept of ‘degendering’ and
‘regendering’ which made a bit of confusion for me. It was my first-time reading these
terms. Even though by understanding the words itself, it would’ve been better if they
had cited more examples about their differences, and to discuss things that are timely in
today’s generation. Lastly, it was mentioned in the article that gender is the sex as the
imaginary body is to the actual body. And by how it was further discussed in the article,
it made me wonder on how one could be able to figure out which is their own true sex
and true gender. As having an imaginary body and intentional body made it quite vague
and difficult to understand for me.
As we observed in today’s generation, most of the people in the society are now
not being judgmental and narrow-minded in regard to others’ sex and gender unlike in
the past. However, there are still people who are still judging and are conservative,
hence criticizing there value based on how they are before, especially on the people’s
gender. So, what can we do to attain gender equality and to remove the prejudices on
others’ gender, like in the LGBTQ+ community? Even though there are distinct changes
in how they view the society in terms of gender, there are still some who are being
discriminated. And with the sex/gender distinction in the article, it could be immediately
understood the difference between each person. Thus, my question is, does sex/gender
distinction provide a better account to the people being criticized and discriminated or
not? Lastly, with the sudden rise on support to the LGBTQ+ community, their rights,
together with their experiences, they are now recognized more than before. However,
not all are able to fully accept them, as they think that humans only have two genders,
which are mainly based on their biological sexes (male or female). And with this, others

1
identify them separately. Is the identification of a person’s sex different from the
identification of a person’s gender?
Overall, we can always look for solutions on how those people can accept the
different genders of each person, which in turn, can help the younger generations be
confident and not afraid of who or what they want to become, we can also teach them to
not judge others base on what they are. Reading this article made me realize more on
what I can do as an individual to help those people from discrimination and such,
although I am limited on what I can do, I can still figure out a way to do it. It also made
me study more on this sex and gender topic that I thought I already know all only to
understand that there is more to uncover and learn.