The word gender describes the state of being male, female, or neither. Some languages have a system of grammatical gender (also known as noun classes); while a noun may be described as "masculine" or "feminine" by convention, this has no necessary connection to the natural gender of the thing described. Likewise, a wide variety of phenomena may have gendered characteristics ascribed to them, either by analogy to male and female bodies, such as with the gender of connectors and fasteners, or due to social norms, such as interpreting the color pink as feminine and blue as masculine. In social sciences, the word "gender" is sometimes used in contrast to biological sex, to emphasise a social, cultural or psychological dimension. The discipline of gender studies investigates the nature of sex and gender in a social context.

Etymology and usage

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Gender comes from Middle English gendre, from Latin genus, all meaning "kind", "sort", or "type". Ultimately from the proto Indo European root, gen, which is also the root for "kind", "king" and many others. It appears in Modern French in the word genre (type, kind) and is related to the Greek root gen- (to produce), appearing in gene, genesis and oxygen. As a verb, it is used for to breed in the King James Bible:

Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind. — Leviticus, 19:19

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Poetry News & Resources

Kay Ryan: Online Resources
This guide compiles links to resources on newly appointed U.S. Poet Laureate Kay Ryan throughout the Library of Congress Web site and elsewhere on the Web.
Librarian of Congress Appoints Kay Ryan Poet Laureate
Librarian of Congress James H. Billington today announced the appointment of Kay Ryan as the Library’s 16th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry for 2008-2009.
Joseph Brodsky: Online Resources
This guide compiles links to resources on former poet laureate Joseph Brodsky on the Library of Congress Web site and other English-language sites.
United States Poets Laureate: Frequently Asked Questions
Answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about the U.S. poet laureateship.
New Guides to Poets Laureate Available
New Web guides to online resources for former U.S. poets laureate Stanley Kunitz, Robert Pinsky, Rita Dove, and Robert Hass are now available.
Poet Laureate Charles Simic Gives Swan Song Lecture
Charles Simic made the final appearance of his tenure as U.S. Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry when he presented a lecture on poetry translation at the Library of Congress.

Poetry 180

Poem 180 - "Break"
A poem by Dorianne Laux from the Library's Poetry 180 project. This is the final Poetry 180 poem of the school year.
Poem 179 - "Bike Ride with Older Boys"
A poem by Laura Kasischke from the Library's Poetry 180 project.
Poem 178 - "End of April"
A poem by Phillis Levin from the Library's Poetry 180 project.
Poem 177 - "Eagle Plain"
A poem by Robert Francis from the Library's Poetry 180 project.
Poem 176 - "How to Change a Frog Into a Prince"
A poem by Anna Denise from the Library's Poetry 180 project.
Poem 175 - "Gretel"
A poem by Andrea Hollander Budy from the Library's Poetry 180 project.

Fiction & Poetry

Michael Dickman: We Did Not Make Ourselves
Michael Dickman Mon, 25 Aug 2008 04:00:00 -0000
We did not make ourselves is one thing I keep singing into my hands while falling asleep for just a second before I have to get up and turn on all the lights in the house, one after the other, like opening an Advent calendar My brain opening the chemical . . .
Jeffrey Skinner: Reunion
Jeffrey Skinner Mon, 25 Aug 2008 04:00:00 -0000
Why do you keep returning, alive, able to walk and gesture as you could not at the end, your movements sketchy, more holographic than warm? Thanksgiving dinner with all the relatives and I alone with the suspicion I cannot speak: You should be elsewhere. Heavy drinking, as always. The newest . . .
Janet Frame: Gorse Is Not People
Janet Frame Mon, 25 Aug 2008 04:00:00 -0000
Do you remember your twenty-first birthday? The party, the cake, and cutting a slice of it to put under your pillow that night, to make you dream of your future beloved; the giant key; the singing: I’m twenty-one today! Twenty-one today! I’ve got the key of the . . .
Tobias Wolff: Awake
Tobias Wolff Mon, 18 Aug 2008 04:00:00 -0000
Odysseus turned his back on the harbour and followed a rough track leading through the woods and up to the hills toward the place where Athene had told him . . .” Richard read on for a time. He was restless but tried to take an interest in Odysseus’ journey to the home . . .
Mahmoud Darwish: Here the Birds’ Journey Ends
Mahmoud Darwish Mon, 18 Aug 2008 04:00:00 -0000
Here the birds’ journey ends, our journey, the journey of words, and after us there will be a horizon for the new birds. We are the ones who forge the sky’s copper, the sky that will carve roads after us and make amends with our names above the distant cloud . . .
C. K. Stead: Isola Bella
C. K. Stead Mon, 18 Aug 2008 04:00:00 -0000
In the stony garden with the bronze plaque that misquotes her she called down from the terrace, “Friend or foe?” She carried a parasol. Her hair was a shiny cap, her face a mask. “Friend of friends,” I answered--“Lawrence . . . Carco . . . Bertie Russell . . .” At each name the mask half-revealed . . .

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