Thread: A brief history of SEX & GENDER, with a few more things thrown in.
Once upon a time there was boring grammatical gender and people were losing interest in it.
Once upon a time there was boring grammatical gender and people were losing interest in it.
Compared with sex, it wasn’t a very interesting word.
Then something happened to gender.
And something also happened to sex.
Sex became ambiguous (status or activity?)
Gender moved in to fill some of the space, but also covered social roles.
Eventually gender became a mysterious brain identity
Gender moved in to fill some of the space, but also covered social roles.
Eventually gender became a mysterious brain identity
Victorians never ‘had sex’—yet here we are!
Mid-20th century people discovered ‘having sex’.
Sex was coming to be used for activities, which could be commoditized & spoken of without reference to social structure or consequence.
Mid-20th century people discovered ‘having sex’.
Sex was coming to be used for activities, which could be commoditized & spoken of without reference to social structure or consequence.
The rise in sex, was also accompanied by the rise in sexual, which surprisingly came to surpass sex.
With sexual, rose homosexual & heterosexual. These 2 words came from the same word smithy, which is why their curves match each other (look even at the tiny details).
They each presuppose the existence of a single activity called ‘sex’.
They each presuppose the existence of a single activity called ‘sex’.
After homosexual came gay and lesbian (though the latter was never as popular).
These terms may have lost some ground to queer, but many terms peak around 1997-8 in a way which makes me suspicious of the data.
Many other terms in a similar domain peak around the same time. Does this reflect the sort of data behind Google Books?
Even masculine & feminine peak around 1997-8.
Since about 1835 the latter has been more interesting to culture.
Before then it may reflect the relative frequencies of grammatical genders learned (since Latin masculine & neuter both produce masculine in Romance languages).
Since about 1835 the latter has been more interesting to culture.
Before then it may reflect the relative frequencies of grammatical genders learned (since Latin masculine & neuter both produce masculine in Romance languages).
As interest in activities called ‘sex’ rises, so does talk of people being celibate.
But talk of celibacy and chastity declines.
The word transsexual takes off in the 1960, but like other terms loses ground before the turn of the millennium
But there’s one related word which is a clear winner. Can you guess which?
But there’s one related word which is a clear winner. Can you guess which?
Transgender sees an unparalleled rise since the 1990s, and Ngram viewer only goes to 2008. Imagine where it would be now.
Even by 2008 transgender far outstripped the earlier term transsexual
Intersex was a term which after its creation enjoyed steady use for about 5 decades and then rose with transgender, perhaps because it was being utilized for an agenda which didn’t fit its independent pedigree.
Conclusion: there are dangers in reading cultural history off Ngrams.
They tell of the rise of sex (=activity) & gender related terms.
They can’t tell us whether this is good or bad, but they do tell us that much of our jargon is historically eccentric.
Time to rethink?
They tell of the rise of sex (=activity) & gender related terms.
They can’t tell us whether this is good or bad, but they do tell us that much of our jargon is historically eccentric.
Time to rethink?
I see I accidentally left my desktop on this slide. Glad there's nothing confidential!
