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Biology affects biological sex. For most people this means XX or XY chromosomes. There are probably some nuances of expression and phenotype in there too, and o
by caconym_ 6y ago
Biology affects biological sex. For most people this means XX or XY chromosomes. There are probably some nuances of expression and phenotype in there too, and obviously some people's chromosomal situation does not fall into either of those buckets.
It's likely not possible to find widespread agreement on this, but I think the modern concept of gender is more or less about how you align with the traditional male and female roles in society (doesn't have to be in the binary sense). I don't think there's a known right answer for how much of this alignment comes down to "nature", and how much to "nurture". What's clear is that some people do not mentally identify with the sex and/or gender labels and/or roles that their chromosomes would traditionally assign to them.
The "biology doesn't care about your feelings" arguments are stupid because they don't amount to any more than excuses for ignorance—biology obviously can't fully explain gender as in gender roles. In fact, pretty much all the arguments I've seen against accepting transgender folks' identities rely on being obtuse about definitions to some degree.
- trhway 6y ago>accepting transgender folks' identities that is the issue of social policy (i'm for accepting of whatever identities people have, whether it has scientific basis or not) while the article is supposedly about scientific findings >obtuse about definitions to some degree that is my point. It is an science related article and thus it is the context where significant degree of precision and obtuseness with definitions is kind of expected. Slipping in such a blanket imprecise statement is what i tried to point to.
- caconym_ 6y agoI don't really think it's inappropriately imprecise, though. It's just an acknowledgement that the link between biological sex and gender self-identification is not well understood at this time.
- sudosysgen 6y agoGender is an issue of social policy, psychology, neuropsychology, and biology. Sex is an issue of science. That's why science on gender always has small degrees of precision and is obtuse. It's moreso a question of soft science than hard science.
- xxxyyjj5 6y ago> rely on being obtuse about definitions to some degree I don't think there's anything obtuse with associating the terms woman and man with their respective gametes. Gametes serve the teleology of reproduction, through which we get the continuation of human life. Gametes don't exist on a spectrum. They're a binary. This is basic science.
- notsureaboutpg 6y ago>biology obviously can't fully explain gender as in gender roles Biology also doesn't explain the racial roles American society used to have when it was segregated, but race is still biological and no amount of growing up around the conditions which are stareotyped as belonging to a certain race or speaking in the dialect a certain race speaks or feeling that you truly are of a certain race actually makes you of that race.
- PurpleFoxy 6y agoThe modern definition of gender reinforces gender stereotypes which are largely arbitrary and obsolete.