Donald Winnicott
Donald Winnicott
and I will be discussing today the gender and sexuality online. So before
I start let us first define the difference between sex, gender, and
sexuality.
When filling out a document such as a job application or school
registration form we are often asked to provide our name, address,
phone number, birth date, and sex or gender. But have you ever been
asked to provide your sex and your gender? As with most people, it
may not have occurred to you that sex and gender are not the same.
However, sociologists and most other social scientists view sex and
gender as conceptually distinct.
Sex refers to physical or physiological differences between males and
females, including both primary sex characteristics (the reproductive
system) and secondary characteristics such as height and muscularity.
On the other hand, Gender is a term that refers to social or cultural
distinctions and roles associated with being male or female. The
distinction between sex and gender is key to being able to examine
gender and sexuality as social variables rather than biological variables.
Contrary to the common way of thinking about it, gender is not
determined by biology in any simple way.