“Sex is a result of colonialism”

[SmugglersHaunt]

Just saw an old friend I’ve not seen in a long time. We were talking about this and that then got on to trans issues. She said that binary sex is a concept that comes from colonial times and racial oppression etc. I actually couldn’t argue as it was so nuts. Apparently I’m akin to a QAnon person for believing in biological sex. She basically said I’ve been radicalised.

Apparently men won’t ‘dress up as women’ to enter women’s spaces, as ‘they can more easily ‘dress up as a policeman’ to abuse women. Everything I said was shouted down. Cases like Karen White etc are apparently not true.

I’m (probably stupidly) shocked. I have read a lot of this shite over the years, but to hear it from someone who I‘ve known for a long time was bewildering. I honestly can’t understand how anyone goes along with this. Not sure why I’m posting this but just want to vent I guess.

Someone has been radicalised and it's not you.

Sorry, OP, but your friend is now an ex-friend. But you are well out of it IMHO.

Yes, because those who lived in the areas we colonised didn't understand basic biology until we arrived. Can't these racists hear themselves?!

Yeah, presumably it's why it's called the 'missionary position'. Until the Europeans showed up, native people had been randomly plugging bits of bodies together. It's a wonder their populations hadn't died out. Let's ignore that many cultures had different customs and rituals specific to each sex.

It's arrogant and racist.

Yeah, presumably it's why it's called the 'missionary position'.
I am now coughing from drinking my tea and laughing at the same time. OP- you have to text your friend back with this gem.

It is truly amazing that invertebrates can reproduce, let alone vertebrates.

So all those ancient texts about the differences between the biological sexes (or alluding to them) - Aristotle, Plutarch, Soranus, Pliny - didn't exist? What about Genesis / Torah Bereshit? The earlier Sumerian records?

This is all just nuts. And ignorant.

I’m feeling more and more old and old school, outdated, backwards, rigid etc and I’m only 45 but I can’t make sense of this new way of thinking. My daughter is 15 and has so far not subscribed either.

In the oldest story we've got, they knew what a woman was. Look up Shamhat, in the epic of Gilgamesh

See also:
twitter.com/therestofus5/status/1109526326006800384

Your friend has been radicalised I'm afraid op.

I'm so sorry.

In the oldest story we've got, they knew what a woman was. Look up Shamhat, in the epic of Gilgames

That's all white men, and very old white men at that, and so needs to be thrown in the bin.

@KatMcBundleFace that twitter thread was awesome, thank you.

It was an awesome twitter thread to be sure.

Bloody hell!

Nothing more racist than claiming the natives didn't know how babies were made until the white man came along and told them.

This idea that a sex binary derives solely or primarily from western culture is just bollocks. It misses the fact that ‘tradition’ in many non-western parts of the world is expressed in a far stricter separation of gender roles than we are used to. I was in West Africa last year, and the completely separate spheres for men and women in things like domestic tasks, work and ritual in traditional communities is extremely marked. These are cultural aspects that predate colonialism.

It also misses the fact that third and fourth genders in other cultures appear to be defined in relation to the binary male and female / masculine and feminine. Certainly all the traditional non-western genders I’ve ever heard about, anyway. If there are any that don’t fit that pattern I’d be very interested to hear about them.

Have people conceived of sex and gender in different ways across time and geography? Yes. Did non-western cultures either not recognise the male-female binary or place little importance on it until it was imposed on them by colonialism? No.

Exactly. Pretty bloody offensive. How do they think ancient civilisations in other parts of the world came about if none of us 'non-white' people knew the difference between men and women? Did we randomly bump body parts until babies magically appeared? Racist idiots.

This seems appropriate op

I assume the Aboriginal Australians don't know their own history then? Right? She could tell them that their very strict male and female areas are imposed and that everyone should just wander through them.

Racist as well as stupid your mate.

Hijra are third gender people in South Asia. The British criminalised them in 1871 and it wasn't until independence that the law was repealed. Hijra are still ostracised as a result of the law put in place. rpl.hds.harvard.edu/religion-context/case-studies/gender/third-gender-and-hijras

That’s an interesting article

of course it refers to male and female as genders when they are actually sexes. It also implies that people with disorders of sexual development don’t have a sex. Which is pretty offensive

Hijra are males who want to conform to feminine stereotypes. That’s why a ‘third gender’ had to be invented for them to preserve societal norms

hindus don’t not know what sex is or how human reproduction works for heaven’s sake

Hijra are males who want to conform to feminine stereotypes. That’s why a ‘third gender’ had to be invented for them to preserve societal norms.
hindus don’t not know what sex is or how human reproduction works for heaven’s sake

Mind you, Wikipedia struggles. I saw the article for "face" the other day. It has three photos - "A man's face", "A woman's face" and "Intersex people's faces", with the third one being "A group of Hirja in Bangladesh".

Now Adam had sexual relations with his wife, Eve, and she became pregnant. When she gave birth to Cain.
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭4‬:‭1‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Funny but there were no colonisers around then!

Great thread

Op this is a long but important watch: Dr Suzanne Forbes-Vierling on the racist origins of gender neutral language
[[https://youtu.be/Ol8krO5SSdc

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This is shorter and possibly more useful: American racism in the colonisation of woman. Difficult watch.