Mis-used word of the week: Gender

It's Monday. Welcome to my weekly rant about words. Yeah, words, darn it!

Today we feature a word that people use because they think they know what it means and because it sounds polite and educated.

Instead, they come off sounding like a bunch of dufi. (That's plural for "dufus". Have fun looking it up.)

Today's word is: gender. (Man, this is starting to sound like an episode of Sesame Street.)

The people who use this word incorrectly believe it is synonymous with sex. Sorry, Charlie -- it ain't.

Gender has two, and only two, appropriate meanings and contexts:

1. When talking about words that have feminine vs. masculine attributes, you use the word gender. While this mainly applies to languages derived from Latin, (e.g.: French, Spanish, Portuguese) there are a few examples in English. Her has a feminine gender, whereas Him has a masculine gender.
   
   So words have gender. They do not have sex. (Though I'm sure some of you out there would like to watch them try.)
   
   
2. When referring to psychological, behavioral or cultural traits, it is acceptable to use the word gender in place of sex or sexual. So the phrase "gender identity" is perfectly acceptable, since it is a reference to a set of psychological traits.

Using gender in any other context is wrong.

The most blatant example of this error is on those probing forms that you fill out when applying for insurance. So often, there is a box that says "Gender: _ Male _ Female". Wrong-o. That box should read "Sex: _ Male _ Female".

I've heard people talking to pregnant women asking them what the "gender of the child" will be. How the heck is she supposed to know? According to the sonogram, the sex of the child is female, but hey, maybe she's going to be a tomboy in twelve years. Who can know about gender, eh?

The other common example that irks me is in electronics. There are male and female connections of all kinds in the electronics world. Those connectors have SEX, not GENDER, people! (Yes, I've seen a few dweebs in white coats get all excited over that, too. Immature little putzes.) As cute as the name "Gender Mender" is, it is just plain inappropriate usage. (To make things worse, I once saw a product in a catalog that was proudly dubbed "Gendar Mender" -- that was just pathetic.)

So, friends, let's get this one right. There is nothing wrong or impolite or inappropriate about the word sex. Use it with confidence when the situation warrants.

Next week we'll delve into the pronunciation of iodine and caramel. Hoo-boy, won't that be exciting?

Justice Out.

P.S.: My sex is Male.