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One reason that the distinction between sex and gender is crucial to feminist analysis is that to suggest sex and gender are synonymous is to assume that biology is destiny. The phrase ‘biology is destiny’ refers to the idea that a woman’s physical and anatomical makeup makes her best suited to a domestic role in society, such as a mother and home-maker. Of course, feminists accept that there is some truth in the fact that childbearing is unique to females, however feminists argue that the ability to bear children should not confine women to motherhood. Feminists also argue that women who do bear children should not automatically be subdued to child rearing – the link between childbearing and childrearing is cultural as opposed to biological. Feminists stress the distinction between sex and gender to emphasise the limits of biological anatomy, and encourage a reconsideration of social role allocation due to it. However, one feminist concept - essentialism - goes against the idea that biology has little to do with behaviour. Essentialism is the belief that biological factors are important in determining psychological and behavioural traits. Feminists who subscribe to the idea of essentialism suggest that social and cultural characteristics are seen to reflect deeper biological differences.

Some feminists challenge the synonymity of sex and gender because they believe that sex and gender have two, very different meanings. Feminists often claim that ‘sex’ refers to the biological differences between men and women – such as our different reproductive organs, which are natural. ‘Gender’ refers to the differences in social roles ascribed to men and women, differences that are rooted in culture, not biology. Differences in gender tend to manifest themselves in superficial means such as behaviours typical of ‘masculinity’, for example liking football, being assertive, being strong and athletic. Or behaviours typical of ‘femininity’ such as self-sacrificing, being overly emotional, liking pink or being a housewife. As radical feminist Simone de Beauvoir puts it, “women are made, not born” suggesting there is no necessary link between biological sex and culturally assigned gender.

Another reason that the distinction between sex and gender is important to most feminists is that they regard the sex differences between men and women to be relatively minor. Feminists also argue that these minor sex differences do not explain the vast socially constructed gender differences we see in society; such as the social roles ascribed to men and women – men to be the workers, the breadwinners and assertive figures, women to be the passive, mothering house wives. Feminists suggest that human nature is actually androgynous – meaning all humans possess both male and female characteristics, and gender should be placed on a spectrum, as opposed to the reductionist outlook of individuals being either male or female. This idea underpins the popular feminist goal of achieving a genderless ‘personhood’, where men and women are judged as individuals, ‘persons’, as opposed to their corresponding sexes. This goal is only achievable when feminists accept gender as socially constructed, because what is socially constructed can also be reconstructed or even removed altogether.

Image Credits: https://sophmoet.wordpress.com/2014/01/29/nurturing-sex-and-gender-western-culture-gender-roles-and-stereotypes/