gentle sex

American  

Or gentler sex

noun

Older Use: Sometimes Offensive.

1. women in general (usually used facetiously).

   courtesy toward the gentle sex.

---

Sensitive Note

This is a dated term, usually used for humorous effect but sometimes perceived as condescending to women. It makes reference to a stereotype of women’s basic nature, namely that women are gentle in comparison to men.

Etymology

Origin of gentle sex

First recorded in 1575–85

Example Sentences

This affecting spectacle was too much for John, who not only felt the chivalrous desire of a man to help the gentle sex, but remembered that he owed the girl a good turn for her hospitality the day before, not to mention the apology he quite burned to make.

From Project Gutenberg

Sturdy, handsome, and stalwart, dressed in riding-breeches and gaiters, a khaki jacket, and a wide-brimmed hat, and with his upper lip adorned by a thin line of fair hair, which looked almost white when contrasted with his sunburnt face, he was a young man whom any of the gentle sex might have looked upon with pleasure.

From Project Gutenberg

But they surely have a value in that they indicate the willingness of the earliest Romans to attribute excellence in statesmanship on the part of their best men to the inspiration of members of the fair and gentle, sex.

From Project Gutenberg

My fellow-voyagers were mostly French, some of them of the gentle sex, and chattered like pies until they fell asleep.

From Project Gutenberg

The "soft," the "fair," the "gentle sex" learned its lesson with only too much docility.

From Project Gutenberg