Chapter 1, Subjects of Sex/Gender/Desire, Section II, The Compulsory Order of Sex/Gender/Desire Summary and Analysis

Feminism often splits the unity of women when it splits the ideas of sex and gender. The distinction was first used to undermine the idea of 'biology-as-destiny.' However, if this distinction is pushed too far, then the idea of gender becomes disconnected from the body. The distinction also runs the risk of ignoring the question of how we can refer to a 'given' sex or a 'given' gender without understanding the processes through which sex and genders are socially assigned. Sex might be a gendered category and vice verse. We may not be able to separate the ideas.