Please explain gender/sex/biological sex differences

[delilabell]

I cannot get my head round these! I feel I can't be a strong feminist if I can't even understand this

Sexual attraction - lesbian, gay, heterosexual, bisexual (LGB)

Gender Identity (bollocks) - 'feel' like a woman, 'feel' like a man, non binary ('feel' like neither) (T)

LGB and T have nothing to do with each other

Be wary of mixing up bisexual and non binary . Many people I know get muddled.

Also beware a current attempt to make 'gay' mean 'gender non conforming', that's being pushed a lot at the moment.

Homosexual. ie sex class based recognition of self and others in exclusive choice of a same sex partner, regardless of how that same sex partner expresses gender. It's not an attraction to someone performing a gender role regardless of biological sex: that's fine but it's something different, not gay/homosexuality.

Ask Eddie Izzard why he his "girl mode" isn't commensurate with his actual age, namely, that of a menopausal woman. Tells you an awful lot about why activists want to ignore biology. As a menopausal women, I can't identify out of my biology.

It is extraordinary how some people seem to assume that no one here is a scientist/doctor/biologist/lawyer. Is there any better illustration of gender (stereotypes) than assuming that women/mums can't be these things?

@AccidentallyOnPurpose

Do you know what a cat is? Do you know what a dog is? That's biology. That's sex. It can be observed and scientifically proven.

All cats are selfish and would eat your face off if you died. All dogs are friendly and would die for you. That's stereotyping. That's gender. A bunch of often harmful, sometimes ridiculous assumptions,stereotypes and prejudices. "Oh my cat follows me everywhere, she thinks it's a dog!". Regardless of behaviours, nothing can make a cat into a dog. Just like regardless of presentation and behaviours, someone can't change their sex.

This is an EXCELLENT explanation

Gender identity is described as an internal sense of yourself as male or female and needn't actually correspond to which sex you actually are. It's bollocks.

No, it isn't "bollocks" and as someone hospitalised multiple times over transsexualism I take exception.

Gender stereotypes as defined by society are utterly nonsense and cause a great deal of damage. There should be no rules attached to biological sex but there is. We are told that our biology must decide our hobbies, interests, career choices etc..

In rare cases the strict imposition of Gender roles and stereotypes creates a resentment of natal sex. Biology becomes seen as a barrier to block someone being themselves.

The situation is "I cant do x because boys don't do that, I'm a boy because I have male genitalia therefore I hate my male genitalia".

Granted this is rare but it still very much does exist.

As a child society told me that what I was didn't align with what a boy should be. My friends were girls and my interests were, according to society, only for girls. My internal sense from my youngest age was as someone who felt far more comfortable with female gender roles and stereotypes and male gender expectations caused significant distress. It is very much real.

It is very real
And the rubbish and hate being propagated in the name of trans rights is I think very harmful to many who identify that way

However ( and I don't think that all trans people disagree with this ) Gender isn't a good thing on which to structure society

"However ( and I don't think that all trans people disagree with this ) Gender isn't a good thing on which to structure society"

I'm the first to say that gender roles and stereotypes are dangerous.

I feel Stonewall and Mermaids are pushing rigid gender expectations only so they can turn round and claim to "fix" the problem. We have gone backwards.

There is money in it for pharmaceutical companies

They don't care about making people better or helping people live happy and healthy lives unless that maximises thier profits

Yes it is backwards for us all

gender identity is heterosexual, honosexual, non binary etc?

No. Heterosexual, homosexual and bisexual are sexualities, not gender identities. Your identity is about who you are. Your sexuality is about who you fancy.

However, gender identity is a load of crap. It's simply a bunch of stereotypes which dictate what you should wear, do or like, according to whether you're a woman or a man. Hence the "That little boy likes Disney princesses and sparkly stuff,so he's clearly actually a girl and was 'assigned' wrongly as a boy at birth' bollocks.

*There is money in it for pharmaceutical companies

They don't care about making people better or helping people live happy and healthy lives *

Something very interesting.

The money for the pharmaceutical companies isn't in the cross hormones it's in the blockers.
The cross sex hormones are about £3-5 per month. Blockers can be up to £500 a month.

There's money in someone having surgery.

Oops.

That last comment should have been "there is NO money in someone having surgery".

@BlueLipstickRocks

Oops.

That last comment should have been "there is NO money in someone having surgery".

There certainly is money in cosmetic surgery.

There certainly is money in cosmetic surgery.

Not when said surgery removes a pharmaceutical dependency.

Costs between £8k and £20k for reassignment surgery. Blockers are up to £6k a year.

In the context of the law, the 2004 gender recognition act was a response to a court case that held that the right to privacy meant that in general, somebody living as the opposite sex had the right to conceal their birth sex and so could change the sex on their birth certificate and be treated as their acquired sex in most situations. However, there are exceptions in situations where sex is relevant e.g. sport.

It was not written to create a new right to have a different gender identity affirmed on different days of the week. However, with its ever expanding umbrella, affirmation is Stonewall’s main focus.

Sorry ‘living as the opposite sex and with a diagnosis of gender dysphoria’. A desire for reassignment surgery and hormone treatment would have been assumed, but is not necessary in law.

It was not written to create a new right to have a different gender identity affirmed on different days of the week.

The protected characteristic within the Equality Act is Gender Reassignment. It is not as Stonewall would have us believe "Gender Identity".

The blurring of sex and gender is interesting. When I was growing up forms always asked for your sex. At some point in my adult life this switched to gender. I'm not sure who started it but it was readily adopted by people bored of seeing "yes please" written next to the sex box. Unfortunately in most cases it is inaccurate to substitute gender for sex.

@BlueLipstickRocks

Gender identity is described as an internal sense of yourself as male or female and needn't actually correspond to which sex you actually are. It's bollocks.

No, it isn't "bollocks" and as someone hospitalised multiple times over transsexualism I take exception.

Gender stereotypes as defined by society are utterly nonsense and cause a great deal of damage. There should be no rules attached to biological sex but there is. We are told that our biology must decide our hobbies, interests, career choices etc..

In rare cases the strict imposition of Gender roles and stereotypes creates a resentment of natal sex. Biology becomes seen as a barrier to block someone being themselves.

The situation is "I cant do x because boys don't do that, I'm a boy because I have male genitalia therefore I hate my male genitalia".

Granted this is rare but it still very much does exist.

As a child society told me that what I was didn't align with what a boy should be. My friends were girls and my interests were, according to society, only for girls. My internal sense from my youngest age was as someone who felt far more comfortable with female gender roles and stereotypes and male gender expectations caused significant distress. It is very much real.

I don't think the 'bollocks' comment is intended to be dismissive of those who feel constrained by stereotypes - God knows, I've never met a woman who wasn't!

But it's bollocks that they are regarded with such reverence by some people.

I agree with the post earlier which said that some people externalise it amd become feminists etc and others internalise it and become trans.

Wouldn't it be easier to just think 'fuck that, I want to do X and so I'm going to do it," and just get on with it rather than having medical procedures so that ones body better emulates one of the people more stereotypically associated with X??

Wouldn't it be easier to just think 'fuck that, I want to do X and so I'm going to do it," and just get on with it rather than having medical procedures so that ones body better emulates one of the people more stereotypically associated with X??

Absolutely.
One thing I've noticed - most transgender people seem to celebrate being trans. Conversely many transsexuals, myself included, resent the fact that transition was necessary.

@delilabell

Thank you all so much!! Obvs I was at school tobkearn about sex. It was the use of the term biological sex thar confused me. So sex is how you're born, gender is stereotypes , gender identity is heterosexual, honosexual, non binary etc? So I would say my sex was female brand my gender identity was heterosexual?

Your gender identity is NOT heterosexual, homosexual etc. That is your sexual identity! Gender identity is a fairly nebulous concept and I think lots of people, especially GC feminists would deny having one. But I think of it as being your individual understanding of how far you conform to the gender constructs associated with your biological sex in your society. So for example, I quite like taking care of children and cooking for my family (conforms to one social construct of womanhood in my society), but I also like DIY and earning money for my professional skills (both traditionally associated more with manhood). But people also use gender identity to describe a mind-body relationship so for example gender dysphoria being the sense that the gender of your mind /soul does not fit the sex of your body.