The theory that entails investigation of the relationship between sex and gender. Gender comes from the Latin verb generare, “to beget,” and the Latin stem gener-, meaning “race” or “kind.” Gender signifies sort, kind, or class and has been used in this sense continuously since at least the 14th century. The term gender adheres closely to the concepts of sex, sexuality, and sexual difference. The terms male and female usually refer to biological differences, while the terms masculine and feminine usually refer to social and cultural roles.
Gender is seen as the product of social interactions rather than a set of traits derived exclusively from biological sex. Gender classification is one of our primary ways of understanding ourselves and others and of giving meaning to human behavior. Gender is not something that one has; it is something that one does specific cultural contexts produce gender. It is not a by-product of biological sex. Thus “doing” gender means achieving one’s gender through a complex set of perceptual, social, and political activities. In other words, gender is an emergent feature of social arrangements. (Some scholars also maintain that sex, too, is a socially constructed category. However, not all gender theorists hold this position.)