This paper examines the results of two sociolinguistic studies of the Arabic spoken by men and women in Jordan and Syria in terms of sex differentiation in Arabic. The study reported in this paper proposes that the terms "prestigious" and "standard" should not be used interchangeably; accordingly, it reinterprets the previous findings. It is proposed that: (1) it is incorrect to posit only one standard speech variety in Arabic, the standard written form; (2) a prestigious spoken variety of Arabic exists independently of standard written Arabic; (3) it is this prestigious spoken variety that should be considered when conducting such studies; (4) prestigious spoken varieties of Arabic in a number of Arab countries have a number of features in common; and (5) the sociolinguistic pattern for sex-based variation in Arabic is the same as that reported for other speech communities. (MSE)