The definitions of sex and gender vary across fields of study and often leave the general public with unclear or incomplete understandings of these terms. Analyzing the differences in these definitions across disciplines highlights the importance of context and allows us to form a more in depth understanding of sex and gender. When it comes to the field of biology, sex is defined as “a set of biological attributes and is associated with anatomical, physiological, genetic, and hormonal features”, whereas gender can be described as “socially constructed roles, behaviors, and expressions” often being labeled as masculine or feminine (Rebic et al. 2023). When looking at definitions given for these in the field of psychology, the American Psychological Association (2023) refers to sex as “the characteristics and traits of biological sex” and gender as “the socially constructed roles, behaviors, activities, and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for different genders”. Although these definitions have similarities across these fields, we can see a difference in which areas they expand on and describe more fully. The biological definition of sex includes a more in-depth definition, whereas the APA seems to put the depth into its definition of gender. This difference might highlight the importance that these words have in each of these contexts and in what scenario they require more description.

References:

  1. Rebic N, Law MR, Cragg J, Brotto LA, Ellis U, Garg R, Park JY, De Vera MA. 2023. “What’s Sex and Gender Got to Do With It?” A Scoping Review of Sex- and Gender-Based Analysis in Pharmacoepidemiologic Studies of Medication Adherence. Value Health. 26(9):1413-1424.
  2. American Psychological Association. 2023. APA Dictionary of Psychology. https://dictionary.apa.org. [Accessed 2025 Jan 23].