Gender identity

[agnosticatheist]

Do genders exist?

Or are they constructs?

It's simple enough to look in the mirror and see that you are physically:

A: A male

B: A female

C: A hermaphrodite (In this case, you are still genetically either a male or a female)

However, when determining "who" you are, the matter is much more complicated.

[Divine Insight]

I just took two tests that supposedly measure masculinity versus femininity.

The first test is here:

Masculine Feminine Test

This test seems to ask a lot of very stereotypical questions.

My results were:

60% Masculine and 40% Feminine

Here is a second test:

Are You Masculine, Feminine or Neutral?

You have to calculate your own results if you want them in terms of percentages.

Here are my results converted to percentages:

7% Masculine. 33% Feminine and 60% Neutral.

I'll buy this one.

Here's another one:

Is your personality more masculine or feminine in nature

My result:

Androgynous - Congratulations! you are the best of both worlds. you my friend are androgynous. you reject societal gender laws and you take the route you're most comfortable with. in my opinion, you're the freest and most well adjusted. don't think about how many people question your birth sex because it really doesn't matter. just be yourself and keep those closest to you by your side.

~~~~~~

In terms of the debate questions, I think gender is basically a construct in many areas.

Obviously genetically males tend to have stronger bodies than females. Clearly females can have babies and men cannot. There are obvious differences physically. Hormonal differences as well.

Some scientists claim that there are differences in brain chemistry. There are clearly differences in brain "wiring" even if those differences are caused by our social upbringing.

But still I think it's dangerous to stereotype any of these things.

As a genetic male I'm often offended by many common male "stereotypical images". They simply don't apply to me at all.

My mother used to say that's because I'm an "Exceptional Man".

Smart woman.

[Jashwell]

[Replying to post 1 by agnosticatheist]

I tend to agree with Divine Insight here, while I don't care that much with regards to people seeing a difference between sex and gender, I have yet to see a difference between what "gender you identify with" and how similar you are to a stereotype of the sex.

What's worse is that if the invention of gender identity was meant to stop categorisation, it doesn't succeed at all - you just end up with people who say "I'm not male or female gendered, I'm xyz-gendered", a continuum of invented stereotypes, rather than just realising that whether you're a man or a woman makes little difference to anything.

It's similar to otherkin. (Though less .. 'spiritual'?)

Don't get me wrong, if someone wants me to use she and her instead of he and his it doesn't make much difference to me. It just seems like unnecessarily confusing grammar.

I think if I asked someone to describe what would make a male sexed man to have the 'gender identity of a female' the response I'd get would either be tautology (they identify as a female) or female stereotype.

[Mr.Badham]

Do genders exist?

Or are they constructs?

It's simple enough to look in the mirror and see that you are physically:

A: A male

B: A female

C: A hermaphrodite (In this case, you are still genetically either a male or a female)

However, when determining "who" you are, the matter is much more complicated.

I heard a Ted Talk where a lady said we are given 3 identities at birth;
Gender - genitals
Gender identity - whether you identify a man or a woman
Sexuality - who you are attracted to.
If all 3 line up, so that your genitals, gender identity and sexuality match social norms everything is okay, but otherwise....
I heard of a guy who had a sex change and became a lesbian. He was born with male genitals, identified as a woman, but was attracted to women. That seemed strange, but who am I to say?

[jerryxplu]

[Replying to post 1 by agnosticatheist]

Personally I believe that gender identity is socially constructed. We generally socially children at a very young age to think and act as well as react a certain way base on their biological sex. Such as boys and girls wear different color with different color rooms and decorations. It's okay for girls to cry but not boys. Because we do that the children will also "correct" those that fall outside the social norm like boys who cry will be pick on by other boys. Girls who act boyish will be pick on by other as well.

It is not uncommon for someone who was born a boy or girl to feel that they are of the opposite sex on the inside. I don't think they have the question of oh am I a boy or girl when I look in the mirror. But rather do I feel like a boy or girl.

[Youkilledkenny]

[Replying to post 1 by agnosticatheist]

Genders exists biologically speaking in various forms. Nature is not perfect and therefore genders aren't either (male, female, make & female, make in physical body only, etc). Then there's the idea of human acceptance - what gender one accepts themselves to be (or not)

To say there are only 2 genders - end of story is rather short sighted it seems to me. Maybe two MAIN genders would be more accurate?

In society, we tend to ID with specific genders and ignore the gray areas. Which is odd since there are so many gray areas - like sexuality and sexual preference. People are a lot more complicated than YES or NOT TOP or BOTTOM RIGHT or WRONG GOOD or BAD....

[OpenYourEyes]

Do genders exist?

Or are they constructs?

It's simple enough to look in the mirror and see that you are physically:

A: A male

B: A female

C: A hermaphrodite (In this case, you are still genetically either a male or a female)

However, when determining "who" you are, the matter is much more complicated.

If I'm not mistaken, you're basically asking about 'gender identity' when you bring up "who" we are in relation to gender. I believe that gender identity is partially a product of biology, so in that sense it does exist beyond just being a social construct. The biological basis for gender is not just about gonads, but also about sexual differentiation in the brain. The sexually dimorphic brain is shaped by prenatal hormones during fetal development. It's common knowledge that men have much more testosterone than woman and testosterone alone leads to some masculine traits.


"The male hormone testosterone plays an important role in the development and maintenance of typical masculine physical characteristics, such as muscle mass and strength, and growth of facial and body hair."
Source: http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-livin ... g-20007271

[OpenYourEyes]

Do genders exist?

Or are they constructs?

It's simple enough to look in the mirror and see that you are physically:

A: A male

B: A female

C: A hermaphrodite (In this case, you are still genetically either a male or a female)

However, when determining "who" you are, the matter is much more complicated.

Option C is clearly a case of androgen exposure or insensitivity:

"The person has the chromosomes of a woman, the ovaries of a woman, but external (outside) genitals that appear male. This usually is the result of a female fetus having been exposed to excess male hormones before birth."

"The person has the chromosomes of a man, but the external genitals are incompletely formed, ambiguous, or clearly female. Internally, testes may be normal, malformed, or absent. This condition is also called 46, XY with undervirilization. It used to be called male pseudohermaphroditism. Formation of normal male external genitals depends on the appropriate balance between male and female hormones; therefore, it requires the adequate production and function of male hormones."
Source: https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/enc ... 001669.htm

[Paprika]

Do genders exist?

For humans, there are two sexes (and also corruptions of them due to genetic flaws). This is simple biological fact.

'gender' (I speak not of the grammatical concept) is merely a concept embraced and popularised by feminists to ignore the many significances of sexual differentiation.

[Haven]

For humans, there are two sexes (and also corruptions of them due to genetic flaws). This is simple biological fact.

'gender' (I speak not of the grammatical concept) is merely a concept embraced and popularised by feminists to ignore the many significances of sexual differentiation.

That's completely false.

Sex refers to biological traits (including chromosomes, genitalia, hormones, etc.); a person may fall anywhere along the spectrum between female, intersex, or male. "Corruption" is a value judgment that has no standing in science. The fact is that not all humans fit neatly into the "female" and "male" boxes (again, I'm talking about biological sex, not gender identity). Some people have XXY or XXYY chromosomes; there is no way to assign such people to either "mainstream" biological sex.

Gender refers to the identities, expressions, and cultural performances often associated with sex. Sex and gender usually match (a person who has a female sex will typically identify as a woman [feminine gender]), but this is not always the case (and yes, there is scientific evidence for this).

Feminism is the belief that all people, regardless of gender, should have equality. Gender is not an invention of feminism.

Sexual differentiation is something that has been heavily debated, but so far no clear conclusions have been drawn.