June 2011 Moms
luckyluvr
member
s/o anatomy scan rant
luckyluvr
member
You will not be finding out the baby's GENDER!!!!!! You'll find out the sex. Gender is a socialization term in which you learn the behavior of being female or male. Sex is the anatomical determination of male or female. Yes, I know most people don't have degrees in sociology, but it bugs me to no end!!!!!!
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Re: s/o anatomy scan rant
Thank you!!
June Bugs Blog
Eli Augusten // 06-01-11
Juniper Serra // 01-03-11
Me too...wondering if this was going to come up! When I saw "Gender Scan" it made me cringe because 1) it is to look at all of major organs and see if they are growing and functioning correctly, and 2) it's the sex, not the gender!!
Rant over...glad I am not the only one!
I didn't know that, good to know.
I have to admit that this bothers me too. I think it's really important to note the difference, because if we don't, that's when people start confusing biological sex with gender roles (as in thinking that women are wired to like shoes more or be better at housework).
I understand that many people think the terms are interchangeable, but I'm all for making people aware that gender is a social construct.
Or type loose when they mean lose or advice when they mean advise
this looks like another " Natural vs Spontaneous"
Did anyone read that? It got ugly.
I'll admit I've always used the word gender, but now I know I was using the wrong word.
This is my 4th pregnancy and I didn't know it was called an " Anatomy Scan" heck I didn't even know there was an "NT Scan"
I've learned so much joining this site.
I understand your point, but the primary definition of "gender" in this context is "sex" according to Merriam Webster. The secondary definition is "the behavioral, cultural, or psychological traits typically associated with one sex."
So the meaning of the word gender can only be viewed in context. If you are an etymologist, using the word gender to define sex characteristics is appropriate. I guess if you are a sociologist it may not be.
I love this post, but that's because I'm a poli sci/sociology double major and I love watching political and/or societal arguments unfold before my eyes >.> It's my version of watching soaps or reading tabloids. Hope that doesn't make me a bad person
And to the pp who said that basically only sociologists would/should use the term "sex" rather than "gender:" This type of thinking is what leads to loops in archaic thinking within a society. It's like saying "I know we were informed that the world is in fact round by some smarty pants scientist, but we're going to keep saying it's flat and ignore their scientific mumbo jumbo."
I know that was a dumb example, but I tried to think of the least offensive, humorous one I could, since I don't want to be cranky (I like to reserve my mean ole cantankerous attitude for stupid coworkers lately >.>)
I am pretty sure that most major reference manuals are pretty clear that the world is round. But if you look at a current edition of the dictionary (and I think that Webster's is a pretty common one) the first definition of the word gender is sex.
So my point is that most people who are not sociology majors would not know that the two words have distinct meanings to some people and for good reason because the word gender means sex. You can write your own dictionary if you want to.
I think that it is totally legitimate to want to educate people that your child's gender will mean so much more than what kind of genitals they have. It drives me nuts when people see my sons doing something and say, "oh, he is such a boy," as if girls don't climb in the fireplace or try to ride the dog. I am have no disagreement with that point.
But right now from an anatomical standpoint sex=gender. For all you know your child may have a penis and still define its gender as female or visa versa.