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[–]PenseePansyBio-Sex or Bust 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

I think this is surprisingly close to the mark, actually-- it just happened rather later than that. It wasn't until the 20th century that the word "sex" took on the meaning of "sexual activity" (as in Mae West's 1926 stage play, Sex); previously, it had always been shorthand for "biological sex". So that's when people got squeamish about using it. Plus of course there was confusion where there had once been none-- by "sex", did you mean "male/female", or "sex act"? That's how "gender" got repurposed as a synonym for "biological sex". Until the shift in meaning for "sex", we'd never needed one before. But once that happened, even the full term "biological sex" seemed too indecorous, I guess.

Unbelievable that something so silly could lead to the dismantling of LGB and women's hard-won protections, the destruction of civil rights, and the deliberate physical damaging of children, isn't it? :(

[–]HelloMomo 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Then what was the word for sexual activity in that time? Or was there not really a clinical term for it before, and it was mostly spoken of with flowery language, vulgar words, and euphemisms?

[–]Q-Continuum-kin 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Also no citations but I seem to remember something about the history of England. Where the royals and upper class used "intercourse" because it was related to French. The term "fuck" became known as a swear because it was the term used by the peasants and was somehow related to a different language from Germanic tribes.

Sex is a category specifically related to reproduction.

[–]HelloMomo 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

English has a lot of Germanic (original Old English) vs Latin (by way of French) etymology leading to having different connotations for words that are technically the same meaning!

Like "smell" (Germanic) vs "odor" (Latin). Or "cow" (English, because they spoke English out in the fields) vs "beef" (because they spoke French in the castle where it was prepared all fancy).