Sex and Gender（性和性別）
Many writers use the terms sex and gender interchangeably. However, each word has a specific meaning.
許多(文章和書籍)作者常對性(sex)和性別(gender)這兩個詞，進行互換使用。不過，這兩個詞的含義是不同的。
Sex refers to our biological femaleness or maleness. There are two aspects of biological sex: genetic sex, which is determined by our sex chromosomes, and anatomical sex, the obvious physical differences between males and females.Gender is a term or concept that encompasses the behaviors, socially constructed roles, and psychological attributes commonly associated with being male or female.
性(sex)指的是我們生理上的女性特徵或男性特徵。生物學意義上的性包含兩個部分：遺傳學意義上的性，這取決於我們的性染色體；人體解剖學意義上的性，這體現在男女兩性身體上的明顯差異。而性別(gender)這個術語或概念，則包含了人的行為、社會建構的角色，以及通常所指的男性或女性的心理屬性。
Thus, although our sex is linked to various physical attributes (chromosomes, penis, vulva, and so forth), our gender refers to the psychological and sociocultural characteristics associated with our sex—in other words, our femininity or masculinity.
由此看來，雖然我們的性(sex)與不同的生理屬性密切相關(包括染色體，陰莖，外陰等)，但我們的性別(gender)指的是和我們的性(sex)有關聯的心理層面和社會文化層面的內容，即：女性氣概或男性氣概。
We usethe terms masculine and feminine to characterize the behaviors that aretypically attributed to males and females. One undesirable aspect of these labels is that they can limit the range of behaviors that people are comfortable expressing. For example, a man might hesitate to be nurturing lest he be labeled feminine, and a woman might be reticent to act assertively for fear of being considered masculine. It is not our intention to perpetuate the stereotypes often associated with these labels.
我們使用男子氣概和女子氣概來描述屬於男性和女性的比較典型的行為。但令人感到麻煩的是，這些標籤限制了人們自如地表達自我的行為。比如，一個男人可能會猶豫去做撫育類的事情，以免被貼上女性化的便籤，而女人們也可能會在行為的果敢性上，表現的畏首畏尾，因為擔心被認為是男性化的做派。我們不認同：要固化性別的定型，並和這些標籤聯繫在一起。
When we meet people for the first time, most of us quickly note their sex and make assumptions about how they are likely to behave based on their maleness or femaleness. These are gender assumptions. For most people gender assumptions are an important part of routine social interaction. We identify people as being either the same sex as we are or the other sex. (We have avoided using the term opposite sex because we believe it overstates the differences between males and females.)
當我們初次見到一些人的時候，我們大多可以迅速地知道他們的性別，並能設想基於男性化或女性化的特點，他們會有怎樣的行為。這些就是性別假設。對大多數人來說，性別假設很重要，它貫穿於日常社會交往之中。由此，我們可確認一個人是和我們有一樣的性，或是其它的性（我們會避免使用「異性」這個詞，因為我們認為那種說法過度強調了男女間的差異）。
In fact, many of us find it hard to interact with a person whose gender is ambiguous. When we are unsure of our identification of someone’s gender, we may become confused and uncomfortable.
事實上，我們中的許多人感到和一個性別模糊的人交流起來很困難。原因就是，當我們不確定對一個人的性別所作出的識別時，我們就可能會感到很困惑並且不自然。
From : Our Sexuality, Robert Crooks Karla Baur, 12th.chapter 5, Publisher: Jon-David Hague