What is gender?

[PeeBraiin]

gender is a social construct

 

[Aniko]

Gender is a performance. A costume and set of actions that is part of what defines you to other people. It's a collection of those costumes and actions that society has decided to lump together and define as a certain thing.

It's never been binary, regardless of how the more narrow-minded among us like to think. We've long had words like "tomboy" for girls who aren't "girly enough". I'd argue that "tomboy" is simply a performance that falls somewhere between the performances of "boy" and "girl".

This is, of course, entirely divorced from biological sex, which is, in fact, determined by genetics, but is also far more complicated than "do you have a Y chromosome or not?". Biological sex is also not entirely binary, as to assume it is simply discounts any of the many people in the world with only one chromosome, or who have 3 or more. A geneticist might call these cases outliers, but they exist and are as human as the rest of us.

And society changes, we might like the same things as a group of people and relate to them but what if the group changes later?

Genetically, biologically is not always clear either. Remember that runner in the Olympics?

 

[forestyne]

Nobody knows anymore.

- - - Post Merge - - -

o you mean to us lo



idk to me it's, like, biological sex (male & female). that includes, for me, mental gender as well. like, how some people feel as if they're a man or a woman in the wrong body. obviously nobody needs to conform to society's standards, whatever you feel you are or want to be, but i think it should stay as simple as that. you can be whatever you want. unless you want to be a dragon or a dog or something.

 

[Aniko]

Nobody knows anymore.

My thought exactly.

 

[forestyne]

maybe i'll upset some people but i only come on here once a month anyway so who cares

 

[Aniko]

gender is a social construct

That might change according to the country, culture and time. But even so, some people might relate to a group of people (share the same interests and all) but identify to another group.

- - - Post Merge - - -

maybe i'll upset some people but i only come on here once a month anyway so who cares

I don't think anybody is upset so far.

 

[B e t h a n y]

...

 

[tumut]

I'm a cis male

Gender is technically a social construct. That was always the definition of gender its not rlly new.

 

[himeki]

also i recomend u guys watch bill nye saves the world ep on the sexuality spectrum lol

 

[nostalgibra]

Just because something is a social construct doesn't mean it can't be a very personal issue for some people. Marriage is a social construct too and it's very important to many people to have a wedding and be with someone officially under law. Social construct doesn't mean it's not real and it doesn't mean it's trivial.

To answer the op, I'm cisgender and I'm very lucky for that (because so many struggle with gender dysphoria). Femininity is part of me so much that i wouldn't know who I would be without it.

 

[Soda Fox]

I'm a biological female. As I get older I'm coming to terms with my feminine side and I wouldn't change a thing about me. I still (idk why my phone sometimes does certain weird autocorrect) would've preferred to have been born male and feel more comfomtable with my masculine side.

 

[Aniko]

Nobody knows anymore.

- - - Post Merge - - -

o you mean to us lo



idk to me it's, like, biological sex (male & female). that includes, for me, mental gender as well. like, how some people feel as if they're a man or a woman in the wrong body. obviously nobody needs to conform to society's standards, whatever you feel you are or want to be, but i think it should stay as simple as that. you can be whatever you want. unless you want to be a dragon or a dog or something.

What I find interesting is that we can identify ourselves to a group or not without conforming to society standards or genetic. What makes us feel that way?
Even genetically we can be xx male or xy female, we may not have all or defined body parts corresponding to our biological gender.

I'm giving myself an headache.

- - - Post Merge - - -

Biological sex should determine your gender. But in the case of Gender Idenity Disorder, where a women feels she should be a man and vice versa, people may choose to transition. People will automatically assume I'm transphobic or something because I've called it what it truly is. Which isn't true lmao, I don't have a problem whatsoever with trans people. I believe that gender is not a spectrum or a social construct.

Yes, but as we said earlier, it's not always possible to determine a gender biologically. And some people don't identify to a gender.

 

[Soda Fox]

What I find interesting is that we can identify ourselves to a group or not without conforming to society standards or genetic. What makes us feel that way?
Even genetically we can be xx male or xy female, we may not have all or defined body parts corresponding to our biological gender.

I'm giving myself an headache.

I'm a little confused too. It's not your fault. But I'll answer the best way I can guess.

I think, even though we have these boxes or groups that we like to put everyone in to make things easier (it's easier to stereotype and make assumptions), each person is still unique and wants to be treated that way. It's a disconnect of making things easy and attempting to retain uniqueness.

 

[Aniko]

I'm a cis male

Gender is technically a social construct. That was always the definition of gender its not rlly new.

So you will identify to male gender whatever happens socially? Like if tomorrow all males wear mini-skirt, high heels you will still be a man right?

 

[Tao]

I believe there are two genders, male and female, based on whether you have a ding-dong or a fuu-fuu...Or plan on getting a ding-dong or a fuu-fuu.


Everything else I hear on gender just seems based on current social trends/views, and I just don't see the validity in that.

It's never been binary, regardless of how the more narrow-minded among us like to think. We've long had words like "tomboy" for girls who aren't "girly enough". I'd argue that "tomboy" is simply a performance that falls somewhere between the performances of "boy" and "girl".

Or they just like pro wrestling and beer, two things that for all we know could be viewed as more feminine interests in the future.

I don't see the value in a 'system' that potentially changes based on what society currently agrees are masculine/feminine things.

i only come on here once a month anyway so who cares

So you're essentially BTF's period.

 

[Aniko]

I'm a little confused too. It's not your fault. But I'll answer the best way I can guess.

I think, even though we have these boxes or groups that we like to put everyone in to make things easier (it's easier to stereotype and make assumptions), each person is still unique and wants to be treated that way. It's a disconnect of making things easy and attempting to retain uniqueness.

It's okay to be confused, I'm not really looking for answers anyway.

- - - Post Merge - - -

I believe there are two genders, male and female, based on whether you have a ding-dong or a fuu-fuu...Or plan on getting a ding-dong or a fuu-fuu.


Everything else I hear on gender just seems based on current social trends/views, and I just don't see the validity in that.




Or they just like pro wrestling and beer, two things that for all we know could be viewed as more feminine interests in the future.

I don't see the value in a 'system' that potentially changes based on what society currently agrees are masculine/feminine things.





So you're essentially BTF's period.

What if you have a fuu-dong? It's getting complicated.

 

[toadsworthy]

Biological sex should determine your gender. But in the case of Gender Idenity Disorder, where a women feels she should be a man and vice versa, people may choose to transition. People will automatically assume I'm transphobic or something because I've called it what it truly is. Which isn't true lmao, I don't have a problem whatsoever with trans people. I believe that gender is not a spectrum or a social construct.

Biological sex is just that, once you study it (not saying you specifically should or need to) there is a greater understanding for the interactions between DNA and physical structures. I don't consider you transphobic, but what I disagree with is listing that as a gender identity "disorder." (you aren't doing that you just brought it to light) It shouldn't be considered wrong or negative to embrace a different gender identity than your biological sex aligned one (like it is stigmatized a lot in today). It has psychological circumstances that someone definitely should talk to a professional about before and during a medical process like transitioning, but to put it into a connotation as a "disorder" shows the lack of cultural sensitivity a lot of institutions have for people going through this.

and i am a male who sees himself as that for the main question of the OP. While I tend to mostly have women friends, I never would want to be one.... its not anything wrong with the idea of it or women themselves, it just wasn't a question for me

 

[Bowie]

Gender is what you think you are, sex is what you physically are.

I find it hard to believe people find this concept difficult to understand, yet here we are.

 

[Aniko]

In the end nothing fully determine a gender, it's more plenty of factors/things that make you relate to one or not.

 

[Yaezakura]

I don't see the value in a 'system' that potentially changes based on what society currently agrees are masculine/feminine things.

Systems always change, unless they're innate properties of the universe.

That said, a large part of the problem is the fact that the system exists in the first place. People assume "male" and "female" are the only options, and anything that doesn't easily fit into either one, and therefore requires thought instead of stereotypes, is "wrong" for simply existing.

And the example I gave, where we have words like "tomboy" for girls who aren't "traditionally girly" tells us just how long we've all been aware that people who don't easily fit into those two arbitrary boxes are here, yet there's so much yelling over "changing gender" these days, as if people who aren't strictly male or female are a new thing.

Do I think tomboys are less girls than girly girls? Not at all. Maybe a different kind of girl, but every bit a girl all the same, so long as that's the box they feel comfortable in. But there are people who feel more masculine on one day, and more feminine the next, regardless of their biology. There are people who don't feel like either one. There are people who feel trapped in the wrong box while a large segment of society tells them they have no choice but to stay there.

Gender's just not as simple as a whole lot of people like to think it is. Which is, of course, the problem, because asking someone to have to actually think about things is just about the worst thing you can do to someone. Or so the world leads me to believe with the way people react to actually having to think about things.