Sex Vs. Gender

Yuko Iwata

When we think about “the mind” we need to distinguish sex and gender. Sometimes we confuse them. Sex is innate and gender is acquired. Males and females are different from each other when they are born. And both sexes have different biological roles. Thus, physical equity is not perfect for us.

Of course, there are some exceptions: A girl who is very tall and good at playing football, and on the other hand, a boy who is good at cooking but weak at math. It’s possible. We don’t have to feel strange. So, the most important matter is that we shouldn’t write them down as male or female. Also we shouldn’t close down possibilities.

By the way, when I talk about the gender gap, I was interested in an experiment with toddlers. It revealed that male and female are quite different from each other when they are such a young age.

Now I will tell you about my daughter. When she was only 1 and half years old and she still had a diaper, my aunt took her to the toy shop and said, “You can choose anything what you want. I’ll give it to you.” There were many big and expensive toys, but my daughter chose a cheap small box with play jewelry. My aunt, who has two sons, was surprised and said, “My boys would never choose such a box. She is a lady already!”

Finding the boundary between innate and acquired is difficult. But we are the same human beings and if we want to make society comfortable, we shouldn’t have “gender bias” and we should be “gender free”.