Sex and Gender, Article Review Example

Christine Delphy discusses the differences in sex and gender in the article titled, “Rethinking Sex and Gender”. She discusses the theories of Margaret Mead, who is considered to be the founding mother of the theories and difference of gender and sex roles. The author seems to be making the point that most combine the terms of gender and sex into one category, whereas they are very different areas. She points out that Mead identified how both feminine and masculine traits determine the possibilities for an individual. Because of the clear division and differences in thoughts and assumptions, there are clear roles of both sexes that are dictated within society.

Women and men are expected to have a division in most areas of their lives. It is not only in their career fields, but also deeply rooted in social and cultural status as well. The author makes the point that there has been some attention given to the reasons of why sex and gender should dictate classification. These classifications are of course somewhat based on an individual’s physical being and are determined based on the classification rather than the individual themselves. These classifications and notions are not well defined and often fall under an unknown category, with most never question them. This wide acceptance allows the confusion and continues the divisions and roles, based solely on sex. The author notes that while Feminists have the desire to continue many of the specifications of the different classifications, they want to preserve many of the values as well. She points out that this is a clear contradiction and one that confuses much of the issue of equality and definition.

It is also apparent that the author is trying to relay the fact that while many are seeking change and agree that there are still inequalities and confusion based on sex and gender, that we as a whole are not sure or even familiar with the true changes that could come if change prevailed. While the notion and idea seems like a good one and would create a “Utopia” there would likely be difficulties and new problems that would come, even in a world of “said equality.

The idea of the article is to educate and draw attention to the differences between sex and gender. While sex refers to the makeup or biological differences between men and women, gender is the feminine or masculine characteristics of an individual.  It is clear that the classifications are set by predecessors and carry many restrictive theories, however are still widely accepted.