Masculine, Feminine and Neuter Gender. Male, Female and Undecided.

It might be useful to try and trace the history of the present muddle about gender. It used, not long ago, to be a term in grammar. There were masculine, feminine, and neuter nouns so called by convention. They might as well have beeen called x, y, and z nouns. Some literal minded people were puzzled by the masculine and feminine appellation. How was ‘patria’ feminine? How is ‘cailin’ (girl) masculine in Irish? Is this early Celtic gender confusion? In other words there was an analogical extension from ‘feminine’ to female. Sex as Vilfredo Pareto often remarks is a very powerful residue.

As with the conventional ascription of gender in nouns the notion of the conventional applied to male and female arose. Each society has its folk ways, roles, duties and so on. True and useful; however to go on from there and to equate gender (masculine/feminine) as convention with sex (male/female) as convention is a category error. Of course it is also true that male and female conventional roles arise out of sexual differences.

So where are we now? Essentially this: I like what is conventionally supposed to be feminine so therefore I am a woman. On the other hand you are the rightful King of France.