Sex

The term sex denotes a huge variety of phenomena. One powerful semantic practice relates the term to the anatomical and physiological differences that refer to male or female physical bodies, contrasting with gender, which is regarded as socially constructed. A second meaning is gained by turning to the use in everyday language of “having sex,” with a range from masturbation to marital sexual intercourse and from hetero- to homosexual activities; here, sex might often appear as opposed to love or romance. A third bunch of meanings can be found in combinations of sex with other words, as in sex appeal, sex bomb, sex abuse, sex industry, sex sells, among others. The history of the term sex alone might reveal a process of compartmentalization and rigidification ...