Oh man, you guys are talking about the word gender, I LOVE to talk about the word gender.

Okay, firstly, it's interesting to know that what a word means changes over time. Because as the times change, so to does how a word is used. The word gender has actually gone through quite the transformation. 

Sadly, I can't find what the word originally meant. I think it had something to do with one's culture. But what is very well documented is the words change to referring to one's sex. This was brought about by first wave feminists as the word sex was starting to be use for bed time activities. 

Though in recent times (I won't pretend to know exactly when) nu-wave feminists started to push for the "feeling" angle, attempting to completely undo all the work the first wave feminists did trying to establish gender as a replacement for the word sex. The irony is almost palatable.

The transformation is not quite complete, but political correctness is something few are willing to oppose. Perhaps we'll have to wait for third wave feminists to come along to change it again.