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Forums - Politics Discussion - What is Gender?

Jaicee on 02 June 2019

I think we can all figure out what chromosomes are, and therefore what biological sex is (at least in essence), but what the hell is gender? I ask because the term gender is today used more often than sex to describe whether one is male, female, "or something else", and yet seems to possess no clear and objective definition that I can observe. Gender identity is being increasingly defined by such things as, for example...

...one's manner of speech,
...one's manner of dress,
...the way one carries themself,
...one's preferred hobbies and interests.

These things seem like stereotypes to me. In reality, we are each individual in the above ways.

I guess my question here is whether the extent to which one's attitude and lifestyle conforms to stereotypes about one or the other sex is really a sound basis on which to categorize them as male, female, "or something else"? What do you think? Can't one simply be a gender-nonconforming woman or man or does one's list of hobbies or dress style instead define whether they're male or female?

Last edited by Jaicee - on 02 June 2019

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Shiken on 02 June 2019

Gender is determined by wether or not you were born with a penis or a vagina.



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Cobretti2 on 02 June 2019



 

 

Cobretti2 on 02 June 2019

OR WE CAN GO WITH THIS


Woman: A person born as a female, and who identifies as female.

Man: A person born as a male, and who identifies as a male.

Transgender Man: A person who was assigned female at birth, but now identifies as a man. Some trans people choose to undergo gender reassignment surgery. Others prefer not to, but still identify as a different gender.

Transgender Woman: A person who was assigned male at birth, but who identifies as a woman. As above, some trans people choose to undergo gender reassignment surgery. Others prefer not to, but still identify as a different gender.

Trans person: This can mean transsexual or transgender. A transsexual is a person who emotionally and psychologically feels that they belong to the opposite sex.

Trans Man: A trans man is someone who was assigned female at birth, but now identifies as a man.

Trans Woman: A person who was assigned male at birth, but who identifies as a woman

Female to Male: This term is often abbreviated to ‘FTM’ and refers to a transsexual or a transgender man.

Male to Female: This term is often abbreviated to ‘FTM’ and refers to a transsexual or a transgender female.

Transsexual: A person who emotionally and psychologically feels that they belong to the opposite sex. Transsexuals are people who transition from one sex to another, usually through dress, hormone therapy, etc.

Cisgender: A person who identifies with the gender of which they were born. For example, if someone is born as a female and identifies as a woman.

Cis Female: Cis is short for cisgender. So a cisgender female is a female who identifies as a woman.

Cis Male: Cis is short for cisgender. A cisgender male is a male who identifies as a man.

Gender Non-Conforming: A person who does not identify with either the male of female genders.

None Gender: A person who does not identify with any gender in particular.

Non-Binary: A person who does not identify entirely with either the female or male genders. They may identify somewhere on a spectrum.

Neutrois: Neutrois is a non-binary gender identity which is considered to be a neutral or null gender.

Genderfluid: A person who does not identify entirely with either the female or male genders. Genderqueer: An overarching term used to describe people who do not identify exclusively as either male or female.

Demigender: This term, (demi means half) is an umbrella term for nonbinary gender identities that have a partial connection to a certain gender.

Demigirl: A person (can also be called a demiwoman or a demifemale) who identifies partially with being a woman or has feminine characteristics. They may have been assigned female as birth, but they could also have been born as a male.

Demiboy: A person (can also be called a demiman or demimale) who identifies partially with being a man or masculine characteristics. They may have been assigned male at birth, but they could also have been born as a female.

Agender: This literally means ‘without gender’, so a person who doesn’t identify with any gender.

Intergender: Intergender people have a gender identity that is in the middle between the binary genders of female and male, and may be a mix of both.

Intersex: A person who is born with the reproductive anatomy of both a man and a woman. For example, they might appear to be female on the outside, but have mostly male-typical anatomy on the inside. These people were previously referred to as hermaphrodites, but that term is considered rude and outdated.

Pangender: A person who identifies as more than one gender.

Poligender: Translates to ‘many genders’. A person who identifies as more than one gender.

Omnigender: Translates to ‘all genders’. A person who identifies as more than one gender.

Bigender: Translates to ‘two genders’. A person who identifies as both male and female genders. Some bigender people have two distinct male and female personas.

Androgyne: A person who doesn’t identify with either gender. They are both feminine and masculine.

Androgyny: The combination of masculine and feminine characteristics. Androgyny can apply to many things - someone’s gender identity, sexual identity, and even fashion.

Third Gender: People who identify as neither a man nor a woman. Some cultures refer to some of their people by a third gender. For example, in Samoafa’afafines are male at birth, but if a family had more boys than girls and needed more women to help with housework, they male children would be raised as a fa’afafine.

Trigender: Translates to three genders. A person who shifts between the male, female and third genders.


https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2016/07/explained-the-33-gender-identities-recognised-by-the-2016-australian-sex-survey/



 

 

kirby007 on 02 June 2019

Gender is whateverr you want it to be

Lul



 "I think people should define the word crap" - Kirby007

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Jaicee on 02 June 2019
Ka-pi96 said:
The same as sex. Just a more kid friendly way to say it so you don't actually have to explain what sex means.

I think that's essentially how most people view it, but I don't know if the two things are synonymous in actual practice. If they were, in fact, the exact same thing, we probably wouldn't have controversies over who should be allowed to use the women's restroom or locker room (e.g. is that respectful to the basic privacy and safety of women and girls?) or over whether it's fair for men (sorry, "male-bodied persons") to compete in women's sports leagues, or whether one has to be heterosexual to qualify as an authentic lesbian, etc. etc. etc. Sex and gender seem to be two different things in practice.



Puppyroach on 02 June 2019

My view of this is that gender is the social construct that we as a species create to categorize within our society. It stems from our preconceived notion of what constitutes a male or a female in behaviour, not biologically. Therefore, what is considered male or female can change over time although the sexes does not change. We have this in most mammals since our social behaviour is necessary to identify a potential partner, but that behaviour change over time as the species contribute to evolve and test new ways of forming social bonds.



SuaveSocialist on 02 June 2019

Jaicee said:

what the hell is gender? I ask because the term gender is today used more often than sex to describe whether one is male, female, "or something else", and yet seems to possess no clear and objective definition that I can observe. 

Have you tried consulting a reputable Dictionary?  They are helpful anthologies of words and their objective definitions, written as clearly and concisely as possible for their possible contexts.  The most recent editions should have the best results.  With a modern search engine you should be able to find them fairly quickly, but I thought I'd help you out as it appears you haven't had any luck with them as of yet.  


Definition of gender ( https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gender )

 (Entry 1 of 2)

1a: a subclass within a grammatical class (such as noun, pronoun, adjective, or verb) of a language that is partly arbitrary but also partly based on distinguishable characteristics (such as shape, social rank, manner of existence, or sex) and that determines agreement with and selection of other words or grammatical forms
b: membership of a word or a grammatical form in such a subclass
c: an inflectional form (see INFLECTION sense 3a) showing membership in such a subclass
2a: SEX sense 1a
the feminine gender
b: the behavioral, cultural, or psychological traits typically associated with one sex
c: GENDER IDENTITY
Those seeking state driver's licenses in Massachusetts are closer to being able to designate their gender as "X" instead of "male" or "female." The state Senate has overwhelmingly approved a bill that would allow for the nonbinary designation on licenses.— Steve LeBlanc
Facebook's message was clear when the social media network added new gender options for users on Thursday: the company is sensitive to a wide spectrum of gender identity and wants users to feel accommodated no matter where they see themselves on that spectrum.— Katy Steinmetz




gender ( https://www.dictionary.com/browse/gender )

noun


either the male or female division of a species, especially as differentiated by social and cultural roles and behavior:the feminine gender.Compare sex(def 1).
a similar category of human beings that is outside the male/female binary classification and is  based on the individual's personal awareness or identity. See also third gender.
Grammar.
  1. (in many languages) a set of classes that together include all nouns, membership in a particular class being shown by the form of the noun itself or by the form or choice of words that modify, replace, or otherwise refer to the noun, as, in English, the choice of he to  replace the man, of she to replace the woman, of it to replace the table, of it or she to replace the ship. The number of genders in different languages varies from 2 to more than 20; often the classification correlates in part with sex or animateness. The most familiar sets of genders are of three classes (as masculine, feminine, and neuter in Latin and German) or of two (as common and neuter in Dutch, or masculine and feminine in French and Spanish).
  2. one class of such a set.
  3. such classes or sets collectively or in general.
  4. membership of a word or grammatical form, or an inflectional form showing membership, in such a class.
Archaic. kind, sort, or class.

gender ( https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/gender )

NOUN

  • 1  Either of the two sexes (male and female), especially when considered with reference to social and cultural differences rather than biological ones. The term is also used more broadly to denote a range of identities that do not correspond to established ideas of male and female.

    ‘a condition that affects people of both genders’
    ‘someone of the opposite gender’
    ‘everyone always asks which gender I identify as’
    1. 1.1 Members of a particular gender considered as a group.
      ‘social interaction between the genders’
      ‘encouraging women and girls to join fields traditionally dominated by the male gender’
    2. 1.2  mass noun The fact or condition of belonging to or identifying with a particular gender.
      ‘video ads will target users based only on age and gender’
      ‘traditional concepts of gender’
      ‘I'm a strong believer that gender is fluid’

  • 2  Grammar 
    (in languages such as Latin, French, and German) each of the classes (typically masculine, feminine, common, neuter) of nouns and pronouns distinguished by the different inflections which they have and which they require in words syntactically associated with them. Grammatical gender is only very loosely associated with natural distinctions of sex.

    2.1  mass noun The property (in nouns and related words) of belonging to a grammatical gender.
    ‘determiners and adjectives usually agree with the noun in gender and number’






Werix357 on 02 June 2019

Some people think it is a choice and as such something that can be defined by how they feel or think.



sundin13 on 02 June 2019

Gender and sex are not synonymous.

Gender refers to the social and cultural aspects of maleness/femaleness.
Sex refers to the biological aspects of maleness/femaleness.

Yes, "stereotypes", norms and expectations play a role in gender. You state that there is individual variation how people express their gender, which is true and it is why gender is often considered to be more of a spectrum than a strict binary.

I really don't understand the fervor with which people insist that these two concepts are the same... They are just words. Everybody should agree that these two facets of maleness/femaleness exist (as it is self-evident). Gender and sex are the words that have been chosen to speak about them.

PS: Why are there so many "transgender" related thread lately?