… The problem with an analysis of abortion views based on sex is that it’s conflating two concepts: sex and gender. There aren’t many social scientists who are going to argue that someone’s reproductive organs make them hold certain social or political views; rather, it’s the way that those organs shape the way that they’re raised, the roles they adopt in society, and the corresponding differences in the way that they’re treated and how they view their own role in society. Put another way, social and political views aren’t driven by sex so much as gender: a distinction that often gets overlooked because social scientists and pollsters generally don’t ask about gender (and are often squeamish about asking questions about sex, relying instead on telephone interviewers’ judgment about a respondent’s voice). CONTINUED
Dan Cassino (Fairleigh Dickinson), LSE USAPP
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