- Re: Etymology is a slippery thing, best not to squeeze it too hard.... Archived Message
Posted by Ken Waldron
on June 7, 2020, 3:57 pm, in reply to "Re: Etymology is a slippery thing, best not to squeeze it too hard...."
|
Regardless of etymology, I think the distinction between the cultural category of gender (man-woman) and the biological category of sex (male-female) is one worth making. -But the whole point is that "gender" simply isn't a cultural category: it's as biological as you can get. Otherwise it's Humpty-Dumpty world: "When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less." "The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things." "The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master—that's all." |