Difference between sex and gender.

Most of us feel that sex and gender are the same thing. While they are not. There is a big difference between the two.

The sex of a person can be male or female. This is based on what chromosomes you have, if you got 1 X and 1 Y chromosome then you are a male and if you got a couple of X chromosome then you are a female.

But gender isn’t as simple. There are again 2 main types of gender ie man and woman. Gender isn’t just based on chromosomes, it takes into account many things before you can be called a man or a woman.

While sex is a scientific concept, gender is a social and cultural concept. You can only be called a man if you have the desired qualities of a man in a society. You can only be called a woman if you fulfill a set of requirements to be called a women in society.

Being a man or woman can be burdening because that expects us to behave in a certain way. For eg, a man is expected to not be scared of anything and crying is prohibited. If a man gets scared of something or cries in his pillow for his heartbreak…oh man he just lost his manhood.

The gender, a man or a woman is given by the society. While male and female is given by God. We were taught from our very early years to try to become a man if I’m a male else become a woman.

That’s exactly what we all try to do. Knowingly or unknowingly- man never wears a skirt neither does a woman sport facial hair.

Both of the above mentioned are possible but aren’t practised because that would take away the title of man or woman that took so many years to win.

We are so hard wired to BE A MAN or BE A WOMAN that at this point we can’t forget this status given to us and start being just another male or female.

Imagine how much more relaxing it would be to live without the stereotypes about the 2 sexes?

I wish we could go back to being a male and female, how liberating would that be.

-ChoubeySahab