4 posts shown.
Drew Lee7 said:Man, please. This whole distinction between gender and sex is such a joke. Calling gender roles "social constructs" or "culturally conditioned"? Total nonsense. Most of those roles are driven by biology, and everything else is just society reacting to those biological realities based on its own weird dynamics.
As far as I know, we still don't even fully understand the causes behind homosexuality, transsexuality, or being transgender, so... who actually knows?
But honestly, all these feminist theories regarding gender versus sex are just laughable.
I don't feel like wearing makeup is biologically driven, but I do it because it's what other girls do. It's the same way choosing to wear jeans or a skirt isn't something built into our DNA.
David Gomez3 said:I think you might be conflating sexual identity with gender identity.
Sexual identity is rooted in biological distinctions between males and females—it’s essentially a matter of nature. The proof is right there in the anatomy. 😳 This is what we call sex.
Gender identity, on the other hand, stems from that biological foundation but functions as a cultural construct; it's where all those societal expectations and stereotypes live. That's "gender." Society basically operates on the assumption that men should act like men and women should behave like women.
The friction occurs when an individual refuses to fit into those narrow, socially imposed boxes. You see this with feminism, where women reject traditional gender roles or expand them to fit their own lives... then you have gender benders, queer identities, and so on.
In the case of transgender individuals, the issue is that their internal sense of self doesn't align with their biological sex. They express this through changes in their gender identity, even though by undergoing a transition, they would effectively adopt the gender identity that corresponds to their new physical state.
Wait, so you're saying biological identity is just sex and always matches it?
But couldn't you make the same argument for trans people regarding gender roles, rather than saying it's about their biological sex?
Megan Nguyen22 said:Gender identity? Absolutely, I'm on board with that; but gender itself is a much more complicated question 😉 (since we tend to view gender roles and social constructs as things shaped by society, whereas biological sex is rooted in our physical reality).
Yes, but even then, several points I mentioned earlier just don't sit right with me.
Besides, my impression is that I feel like a girl because I see a girl in the mirror; if I saw a guy, I'd feel like a guy. 🤷
The whole transgender situation confuses me. For instance, a man who wants to transition usually expresses that identity by wearing women's clothing, applying makeup, maybe trying to mimic female body language, and taking an interest in stereotypically feminine things.
What's confusing about all of this is that makeup, fashion, and much of that behavior are culturally conditioned. Just like how culture dictates that women make the salad at a backyard BBQ while the guy handles the grill. 🙂
Female movement differs from male movement because women have different hip structures and less muscle mass; when a man tries too hard to imitate those movements, it looks awkward and, as people often say, gay.
Some biological differences that come to mind are that a woman can become a mother, can engage in vaginal intercourse, and is generally physically weaker, which might make her less prone to resolving conflicts through violence.
Of course, I know there are neurological differences too. Even though I'm a woman, I have a "male brain"—meaning I'm better at spatial awareness, math, logic, and technical stuff. I'm not particularly interested in interpersonal drama or social circles, but those traits don't make me feel like a man; they just lead society to label me as tomboyish because I played with trucks as a kid. But again, that's culturally conditioned.
So, looking at the big picture, I don't quite get what's happening with trans people. It seems to me like they define their gender identity based on culture. A man who identifies as a woman wants to wear skirts, wear makeup, and read Cosmopolitan—he wants things shaped by culture rather than, say, wanting to be a mother.
Wouldn't it be simpler to just identify as a man who likes to dress up, rather than being a trans person trying to change your sex?
Then again, I remember feeling like a boy when I was a child simply because I preferred playing with boys' toys. 😁 If I had grown up in a more conservative town where there was heavy resistance to that, I probably would have been even more convinced that I was a boy in a girl's body.
I understand that sexual attraction to a specific gender exists regardless of culture, and that there are "male and female brains," but is gender identity itself independent of culture? Or do we build it based on our reflection in the mirror, sexual attraction, and our interests—essentially the culture we live in because society expects us to act according to our sex?