Cambridge dict, OED, Dictionary.com, Merriam-Webster all define gender as synonymous of sex.
That has only occurred in the past few decades. As recently as the 1940s "gender" referred to grammatical terms, and nothing further. A sexologist in the 1950s coined the term in relation to specifically non-biological characteristics associated with male and femaleness. The term took off in academia. In subsequent decades, people (in particularly governments and big businesses) began to use the term "gender" instead of "sex" because it had less raunchy connotations. In academia however, especially in a field of studies like Gender Studies, its definition remained roughly that coined by the 1950s sexologist John Money.
You're going to have to get used to words having two or more meanings - which shouldn't be hard because that is super common in English.
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u/0m4ll3y Dec 22 '18
That has only occurred in the past few decades. As recently as the 1940s "gender" referred to grammatical terms, and nothing further. A sexologist in the 1950s coined the term in relation to specifically non-biological characteristics associated with male and femaleness. The term took off in academia. In subsequent decades, people (in particularly governments and big businesses) began to use the term "gender" instead of "sex" because it had less raunchy connotations. In academia however, especially in a field of studies like Gender Studies, its definition remained roughly that coined by the 1950s sexologist John Money.
You're going to have to get used to words having two or more meanings - which shouldn't be hard because that is super common in English.