Where do you stand with sex, gender and sexuality?
 

The feminist and queer theorist has really been popping out in me in the last few months! I’ve been reading the book Gender Trouble which discusses ‘compulsory heterosexuality’ as a construction born out of the use of the sexes for the polarisation of our identifiable performative genders. The subordination of woman in these dualised genders serves masculine oppressiveness, as does compulsory heterosexuality. Thrilling!

Essentially I agree. Gender (being the actions we perform that are typically ascribed masculine and feminine) is socially constructed for the purpose of the patriarchy. The world would be a much better place if gender and sexuality were more fluid, and we created a more even playing field.

There's only two genders
It's about equality not feminism
and am pro gay obviously

This pretty much

I think I'm on the same lines tbh

Especially with feminism - there's a lot of double standards and the level of equality is out the door. Yes fight for women's rights, but no you don't deserve more rights or uneven rights to men they should be equal.

This.

used to think there were only two genders, but not so sure now
so I'm open-minded and see how things develop once people are free to adopt gender solution that suits them best
it's only just begun

there seems to be a lot of ignorance about what feminism truly is (and not saying ignorance in a bad way)

men have and always have had an upper hand in society and in order for that to be “equal” we DO need to focus on women rights even if it may seem like “double standards”

and FYI a lot of these double standards (not all) that seem to go against men are created by men themselves

Yeah I forgot to add that people are fine to label themselves to whatever of the 60-odd genders there are but personally I think that male and female (cis or trans) are the only genders.

Everything else seems to be sort of an unnecessary label. Not in the sense that you're silly or wrong for thinking that, but in the sense that it doesn't need a name, you know who you are and are comfortable with that so why put it in a box and label it. And with there being so many - the chances of someone understanding you when you tell them you're a 'Masculine Female-Attracted Hermaphromale' or others of the sort, are limited and just causes more confusion to a society which already has many blurred lines and grey areas.

there are people who are genuinely androgynous, a bit of both though


60 odd genders won't survive the test of time, imo, but eventually something of a consensus should emerge

Yes I agree, I meant double standards in a different way. Just as an example - if there was an openly strong-opinioned feminist who believed that all genders should be equal who is then offended when a male asks to split the bill on a date. Yes that may be tradition, but gender pay gap has become a tradition and that's completely wrong so :shrug: As I say just an example and there's many things to consider with that particular one but your probably get my gist anyway?

Yes sorry, I meant to include that one. My point was more about the scale of genders presented though, apologies.

Totally agree.

I think gender is a bunch of stereotyping, agree with the OP

but a real feminist wouldn’t be bothered about splitting the bill

people ideas of a feminist is not what an actual feminist is and that’s where a lot of the ignorance surrounding feminism and its values are

I think there will be more gender labels to come as humans explore gender.

Just as new words are added to the dictionary.

I think some people need to realise there are differences and there will never be 100% even playing field because male and female are different in many ways.

By all means champion equal rights etc but there are some people who truly believe men and women are the same. They're not.

Again, just an example.

See I partly agree with you. I think there's a large portion of feminists who are standing up for women, fighting for equal rights and making this world a better place but there are feminists who take it too far and fight more for unbalanced rights. And yes that's a minority, but that group are partly responsible for the clouded view of feminism and it's values.

Absolutely, which is why we need sex separation in sport etc

When it comes to sexuality, I only really believe in four orientations. Straight, gay, bi and asexual. Pansexuality, demisexuality and all the other labels are just other labels for bisexuality without the baggage and plus pansexuality is just patronising to bisexuals by insinuating that bi people are inherently transphobic.

Feminism is equality, overly sensitive men and women who don't love themselves just like to focus on extreme aspects to smear the whole movement.

I believe that gender, like bisexuality has been overly complicated to allow patronising people to feel more special than they actually are. You are either a cisgendered man or woman or a transgender man or woman. For the sake of simplicity, I think that trans people should only be entitled to the benefits of their gender if they are actively transitioning/ have transitioned. If a trans man who has not begun transitioning goes to prison, for example, they'd be in way more danger in a male prison than a female prison and vice versa.

I find things like gender fluidity to be a style choice more than a gender and I don't think it should be recognised as it's own gender. Destroying gender norms is great but that doesn't mean that gender fluidity is a gender in itself.

I agree. If gender "norms" and stereotypes are ended then gender fluidity doesn't mean anything.

They like cars AND cooking. Oooh. But if cooking and cars are no longer offensively stereotyped as inherently a male or female interest then how can you be fluid between the two? :think:

Genuinely just confused myself now.

"Gender norms" could just be renamed "personal taste"

I would say that some people in this thread don’t know what feminism is.

And to those who would say ‘there are only two genders’ id ask them to question their very notion of what gender is. Legally, gender typically is equated with sexual anatomy. But what people who identify as ‘genderqueer’ for example are manifesting is an inability to fully con scribe themselves to the gender categories that law and society dictates to us. I’d encourage these people to question, and where possible reject the idea that people should feel restricted in such away.

And wrt the poster who believes in the categorisation of four sexualities.. i obviously disagree as a result. When gender categories lose their meaning, so do sexuality labels, and even before that, sexuality between the two gender norms is a spectrum.

Two genders, four sexualities, true feminism is great, the rare few ‘feminists’ that just hate men in general, are just as mad as men who see women as second class citizens.

I would have always considered gender and sex to mean the same thing, a biological thing based on anatomy but apparently gender and sex are different now? and to me, the new meaning of gender is just a bunch of socially constructed stereotypes

Yeah those are my beliefs :)

It’s quite an abstract concept, and judging by the responses here perhaps I’m more radical than I thought eek