This is a textual expression of something that's been rolling around my head Fur Day-Z. First, I COMPLETELY agree that gender is a social construct. Gender Identity, that is. Biological sex exists solely for the purposes of Reproduction, Pleasure, and Classification. But when some admittedly anti-gay ranter in the comment section of that "Man gets cut for having trans gf" said to something LGBT-positive the following: But a child's gender identity is defined by them. If they have some form of dysphoria and feel they're something other than their current gender then there you have it....right!? That logic dictates that a child has no sexual orientation because they don't know what that means yet. Stupid, Stupid, Stupid. Or not?
That's a false comparison because young children don't have any sexual awareness or maturity. But yeah, I agree otherwise.
An infant who has no understanding of gender has sex but not gender, IMO. The exact age at which infants first start to identify as having a particular gender probably varies by culture (as suggested by this study) if anyone's interested. As for sexuality, sexual orientation doesn't have to be a social construct just because gender is. Honestly I think that aspects of both gender and sexuality are socially constructed, but I'll resist the urge to go on a tirade about all of that.
There's so many things I want to say about this. But I know I would sit here writing a fucking essay, and it probably wouldnt even make sense
I don't believe my gender is a social construct whether I am a dyke, femme, stud, I guess I don't have to go on anyone can be Tomboyish or just be really frilly these are social constructs but who we are Male, female, Bigender, gender fluid whatever any person actually is - and all of these need to be internally determined I guess by some people - I guess most of us are fortunate enough to just be able to check gender same as sex - which was the assumption for so many millenia but it is really the wrong assumption for so many people. and the orientation is there - it is programmed it, just not activated and understood until hormones awaken the desires
Sex is a biological reality, not a social construct. Gender is a social construct, contingent on location and time. But sex and gender are not the same. The inability of people to separate sex from gender is what gives rise to frustrating remarks of this kind.
As we all know, sex and gender are different things. What I feel too, however, is that there are more layers to gender than apparent. I personally feel that gender stereoptypes and socially constructed gender are all that factors into what gender someone identifies as. I feel as there is such a thing as an intrinsic gender as well.
IIRC, there are some chemical differences between male and female brains, but they are variable by individual, people can be born with the wrong gender brain, and there are people with brains that do not conform to the male/female system. Here is one source: Matters of the Brain: Why Men and Women Are So Different | Gender & Cognition | LiveScience Gender has a socially constructed portion, but the biological aspect is also important. It needs to be acknowledged that there are gender based differences in how we think. ---------- Post added 6th Dec 2013 at 02:31 AM ---------- How Male and Female Brains Differ
some study a while back (2011) by TIME INC shows that a certain part of the brain is smaller in women and homosexuals. Would it be midsized in bi and pansexuals? I doubt it. Probably smaller for people with 'homosexual tendencies...'