Quote:
Originally Posted by Oliver_W
Gender as a whole is a load of nonsense. It's nothing more than a social construct, we are our bodies, nothing more.
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That's a
little reductive; for example language itself is "nothing more than a social construct" ... or all sorts of concepts; friendship, family, love, any and all forms of entertainment, art, philosophy. I think it's quite unambiguous that social constructs, while yes indeed "constructs", are nonetheless very real.
My stance on the gender binary is actually quite different to (and yet related to) my stance on the ability or even the need to change
sex ... I think the two are entirely different and have become confusingly intertwined in ways that were never necessary. And in ways that (from an LGBTQ perspective) actually completely clash. Transgenderism (physical/hormonal transition) for example as a concept is completely incompatible with a belief in the gender spectrum (non-binary nature of gender).
Short answer: I believe that gender is
100% non binary, I believe that sex is
100% binary and how an individuals gender manifests has NOTHING to do with their sex, pronouns, or whether they're a man or a woman.
Interestingly I think this seems to have been BETTER understood, or was at least starting to be better understood, back in the 70's and 80's. For example David Bowie (and others), did not conform to the gender binary at all in a huge number of ways and yet they were very clear on still being men/males, and that their external presentation and personality traits had nothing to do with whether or not they were "still men". That's exactly how it should be. Should men (and women) be able to dress and present however they want, wear make-up, engage in non-gender-stereotyped activities whenever they want? Absolutely. And they should be able to do so whilst
still being their natal sex.
IMO we've gone absolutely arse-backwards into a belief that if one does not conform to gendered stereotypes (of appearance, personality, activity and presentation) then that means
they can't be that thing and must be "other". And that if they want to fully self-realise they need to literally physically alter themselves, and be "grouped" with whichever sex happens to match their stereotyped personality traits most closely. It's just nonsense. Gender presentation should be whatever people want it to be without judgement, things that need to be segregated
by sex should continue to be segregated by sex.
Like I said I think society understood that better at one point or was getting there. A man can hate football and "other manly stuff" and like "frilly girly stuff" and still be a man ffs. I actually find a lot of the current gender zeitgeist really troublingly judgemental, oddly enough. "Males if you don't like BLOKE STUFF you are actually a girl! Get it sorted out silly!" - "Females, if you like BUTCH MAN STUFF you are actually a boy why do you have boobs and where is your beard??"