Sex is, without a doubt, a peculiar, special word, with uses loaded with connotations of all kinds. Always at the top of internet searches or in countless bar conversations, sex is a much talked about and at the same time silenced topic, very popular and very ignored.
We already know that it is a polysemic word, but it is curious how this polysemy has to do with how corrupted this word has been throughout history. The meanings of words change progressively. In the case of “sex”, its meanings have been mutating, as a result of events, whether of a social, political, or religious nature. Let’s go deeper.
Where does the word sex come from?
The Athenian playwright Aristophanes (444 BC – 385 BC) is responsible for bringing this word into our vocabulary. He is one of the characters in The Symposium, a series of dialogues written by Plato and of incalculable philosophical value. These dialogues take place in the context of a dinner party in which several diners, including Socrates and Aristophanes himself, talk about love and Eros.
At this dinner, Aristophanes speaks of the famous myth of the androgyne. In this myth, beings could belong to three different categories: the masculine, the feminine, and the androgynous. Androgyne is any being that has both masculine and feminine characteristics and comes from Latin ( andrós, man and giné, woman), which would represent the union of the first two categories.
Specifically, this playwright described androgynes as “complete” beings with four arms, four legs, two faces, and two different genitals. These beings were defined as round, complete, and powerful. So powerful that they tried to challenge the gods. Zeus was the one who decided to punish them for such an offense. His punishment consisted of splitting these beings in half so that they would stop being vigorous, powerful, and, above all, complete.
Once this division was made, each man and woman who resulted longed to meet the other half, since in this way they could feel “complete” again (hence the widespread myth of the better half ). Since these beings now went from being “complete” to being “sectioned”, it is precisely this last word that gives rise to what we know as “sex”. Sex comes from sex are, and means “separated”, “sectioned” or “cut”.
What uses do we give to the word sex today?
The etymology of the word sex contrasts with the uses we usually give it today which are frequently summarized in three:
“Sex that is done”
This usage reduces the word sex to situations of intimate encounters with another person or people. That is, phrases like “I haven’t had sex for a long time” or “Yesterday I had sex with a boy” associate sex with sexual relations. This usage is especially frequent in the media in any headline of any news story.
If we go even further and analyze what it means to have a sexual relationship based on the original meaning, we would be talking about relationships “between sexes” (of any kind). That is why we often talk about “erotic relationships” since this term describes a more concrete and intimate type of relationship (it refers to Eros, which implies desire, attraction, and love…).
The “sex that one has”
This usage refers to genitals. And it is not a correct usage because, despite what many people may still believe, genitals do not define our sex. Or to put it another way, genitals do not determine our sexual identity.
Indeed, the use of sex as a synonym for genitals is not as frequent as the previous usage, but phrases such as “shave one’s sex” are still read.
The “sex that one is”
This is the most correct and harmonious use of the word concerning its origins. This expression is what gives meaning to Sexology, since it refers to sexual identity, to the fact that we are sexual beings, using that “sex” as a differentiator, a very powerful source of diversity.
Language constructs behaviors, attitudes, and mental schemes. That is why the word sex must be used in a way that allows us to speak with much more harmony. In this way, we can place each concept where it corresponds, so that it allows us to describe reality in the best possible way: if there is no good description of reality, we will hardly be able to ask the right questions about it, much less obtain answers.