Sex/gender distinction

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The sex/gender distinction is a concept in feminist theory, political feminism, and sociology which distinguishes sex, a natural or biological feature, from gender, the cultural or learned significance of sex. Taken to its limit, the distinction maintains that gender is totally undetermined by sex.

The distinction is strategically important for some strands of feminist theory and politics, particularly second-wave feminism, because on it is premised the argument that gender is not biological destiny, and that the patriarchal oppression of women is a cultural phenomenon which need not necessarily follow from biological sexual difference. The distinction allows feminists to accept some form of natural sexual difference while criticizing gender inequality. Some third-wave feminists like Judith Butler and French feminists like Monique Wittig and social constructionists within sociology have disputed the biological-natural status the distinction imputes to sex, arguing instead that both sex and gender are culturally constructed and structurally complicit.

In official documents (eg. IQ tests, government documents) more and more the word 'sex' is being replaced by the word 'gender'. To add to the problems there is usually not enough space to write 'masculine' or 'feminine' which are examples of the correct term, so one is forced to write 'male?' or 'female' which is incorrect. This is a worldwide trend because of the conservative attitude towards the word sex.