Quote Originally Posted by Themrys View Post
Not kidding? It really was Pokemon, of all things, that caused this annoying misperception so, so, so many people have about sex and gender?
I am actually pretty sure that it was the opposite - gender and sex have been used as interchangeable for a long time, with gender and sex theorists introducing in recent times the distinction you people refer to in their scientific field. When the pop version of gender theories spread, this became (to some) the correct meaning. In truth, gender and sex are still interchangeable, if you aren't talking about gender theories, just as you can call green beans vegetables, if you aren't talking about botanic, in which case they are fruits. The fact that there is an ideological battle going on about the concepts represented by these terms makes it much more likely that someone will correct you, however.

"Sex" and "gender" as "the males" or "the females" opposed to each other are used since the 15th century. "Sex" as "a single person's sex" is used since the 16th. "Sex" as "sexual act" is from the beginning of the 20th century, at which point "gender" began to be used to refer to an individual's sex. Gender was used for both biological and social attributes since 1963. No idea of when the use of gender was supposed to become exclusive of mental constructs, which it actually hasn't yet: there's a lot of overlapping.