Is gender 100% bullshit? Or not

[speakingwoman]

Big question!

So, biology is a stable reality (I have been reading the well-written Hands Across the Aisle site)

Some bits of biology are visible and tangible e.g. our wider hips.

That changes some behaviours (our gait is different to men’s gaits).

And our hormone mix is different.

Where does biology stop and gender start?

OP just think of it this way. Humans are mammals. Mammals come in two sexes, male and female. Males are dominant. Females gestate, birth and feed young.

If you asked me what sex my cat was, I would say female.

Humans have observed female behaviour and labelled it feminine. Any behaviour from female humans which is different to male humans has been labelled feminine. These differ over time and from culture to culture.

But sex never changes. It's the same across all cultures and through all time.

This is an unformed thought, but I’m aware that there seems to be, for me,a link between my hormones and my personality: when pregnant and breastfeeding, I was more emotional, more likely to cry or lose my temper. That’s not who I am at all normally. But it felt like me when my hormones were all over the place. Sometimes I wonder where “me” ends and where my hormones begin. So I wonder could the biological reality of our female hormones be responsible for some aspects of our personality? I don’t know, and I’m only going from my own experience, maybe it’s not the norm. I think the problem is that whilst I am gender critical and think it’s oppressive bollocks, we don’t have a full understanding of how personality or consciousness works so it can be hard be certain.
As I say, just thoughts I have knocking about and haven’t fully considered so happy for anyone to shoot them down!

Women produce offspring. That is our sex role. The role the female sex has in procreation. This makes them vulnerable.

@Fairenuff but this is incorrect. Biological sex is not binary. Not all females gestate. Not all can. Not all males are dominant. Some females are dominant. There are thousands of intersex conditions. In fact, unless you have had your chromosomes and hormone sensitivity levels tested, any one of us could have an intersex condition, regardless of whether we have successfully procreated, and not know about it.

If you test groups for testosterone levels you will find sex is not a predictor of level. The interplay between hormone levels and sensitivity is vastly complex. Biology is so much more interesting than there are two sexes, end of.

Ok sex role means role in reproduction of the species.

Hormones play a part in human behaviour. For all of us. Adrenaline will produce the flight or fight instinct in all of us. We all feel anger. We all feel fear. We are socialised to suppress certain emotions.

It always makes me laugh when people say women are more emotional than men. Is anger not an emotion then? Men who express frustration when driving are 'being emotional' but we don't label them as that because we are socialised not to.

Are you assuming that the way the drugs imbalance (hormones) affect you is part of your personality?
That doesn't make sense. It isn't your personality to become unconscious when given a general anesthetic.
Or perhaps I misunderstand.

allday you are talking about anomalies. Of course 'not all' applies to any situation. We are talking generally.

In answer to the OP. Gender is a construct, and public understanding of biological sex it is also heavily constructed to support the notion of gender. Have a read of Simon Levay's The Sexual Brain (available online as pdf). Covers this very well with proper citations and studies and is a set text for psychology and biology degrees.

“It always makes me laugh when people say women are more emotional than men. Is anger not an emotion then? Men who express frustration when driving are 'being emotional' but we don't label them as that because we are socialised not to.”

Yes. This is like floral’s point on “nurturing” above.

Nope there are 2 sexes. In the same way that humans have 2 legs. Yes some people are born with no legs, but that is something unusual, an exception ( that proves the rule ) . They are not a different type of human.

It is not sensible to give a unique category to every human because every human has a slightly different genetic make up. It is useful to categorise into 2 sexes

alldayinbed
Bullshit.
Xs and Ys are all that is on offer in the human.

ANd it is harmful to at least half the population to categorise into any gender.

I'm not talking anomalies. The interplay between hormone levels and sensitivity mean EVERYONE falls on a spectrum. Intersex conditions are the extremes that cast light on complex nature of sexual biology.

“Have a read of Simon Levay's The Sexual Brain (available online as pdf). “

Sounds good. However I am currently breaking gender roles by working 18hr days so will have to keep relying on you lot.... (tried to read Delusions of Gender but fell asleep)

...I can manage Infinite monkey cage though, thank you x

We are all human.

Females humans make up just over half the human race.

Women are people. We are all different.

Throughout the world and throughout history the one thing we all have in common is our sex. Our biology.

Gender stereotypes have changed across time and culture.

Biology remains the same.

I’m not saying I necessarily agree with this but it is worth looking at the facts.

The ‘more emotional’ thing about women could relate to the fact that women score consistently higher on the ‘neutoticism’ Scale on the Big 5 than men. Literally meaning that women are more susceptible to emotions.

What I definitely don’t think we should be doing is denying things that might be true. If women are more neurotic overall, the thing to do isn’t deny it, it is to work out how not to be oppressed because of this reality

Some people take drugs. That does not make them intersex. Criminy! Your argument isn't even specious. It's just silly.

I see what you are saying mooncup, but don’t agree

Literally meaning that women are more susceptible to emotions.

What does that even mean? Emotions are felt by males and females alike.

Which emotions are women more susceptible to?

But what do you make of the mountains of research that show women are significantly (in the stats way) higher in neuroticism than men?

It’s dangerous to just say “it’s not true”

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroticism

But what do you make of the mountains of research that show women are significantly (in the stats way) higher in neuroticism than men?

They are socialised into it from birth.

No sex is biologically remarkably simple. I suspect because it is so fundamental to species propagation . Sex makes a huge difference to some things..like baby making capability and physical size/ strength. And sex is the basis behind violence to women. Sex is easily measureable . It can be understood at a biochemical genetic level and at the larger scale human level with great consistency. It is very real. As real as heads and legs. It can be used to predict some things with unbelievable accuracy..such as who can breastfeed or who might get prostrate cancer, or who might get raped.

You are right that in all other characteristics people are on a spectrum that is not predictable based on sex and forms no other patterns. Exactly. And that's why one shouldn't say that girls are kind and boys are clever. Because it's untrue. And those characteristics can often be influenced by hormones ( including external chemicals,) possibly because they are less critical to species propagation so can be more open to mutation .

And that is why gender is such a useless or destructive concept. It is useless if gender is infinitely variable..Then it just says everyone is different. It is destructive if gender is restricted to a few categories which people are forced to adhere to, especially when they are expected to follow a gender matched to their sex