Hi all, Just watched this video and wanted to know what you guys think of it. I think it's a flawed argument but an interesting watch. https://youtu.be/x5mlNZ6J7Ck
Absolutely brilliant. It's not a flawed argument at all in my opinion. I'm glad someone is finally stating the obvious. Now... if someone wants to label him or herself differently, or use some name that makes no sense to anyone else, s/he is still entitled to do that, and no one should say anything. However, for the point of common sense, practicality, and not buying in to the speclal snowflake mentality... the person who put together this video makes a pretty compelling, common-sense argument that I wish more people would pay attention to.
I don't know, I feel like it's easy to say things like this, and like what Chip said, when you haven't actually ever felt genderfluid yourself. For a very long time now I've wished I could use gender neutral pronouns. But I never tell anyone this because frankly, I think there are no words in the English language you can use without sounding a little strange, and I don't want it to be awkward or forced at any time ever... if it's not natural then there's no point. Maybe I feel this way because the language spoken where I live (bengali) actually is gender neutral, maybe I have an irrational fear that people will automatically assume things about me if they know I'm female. It could even be internalised misogyny, I don't know. But clearly there are social factors at work here. And I don't think that feelings brought on by social factors are less valid than those brought by biological ones, as long as you recognise them for what they are.
I echo what Chip said. Nice video. Unfortunately, there are people who are offended by it, saying that the video is oppressive just because they don't agree with it. Like stated in the video, sure, it can be frustrating when someone uses the wrong pronons if you are trans. However, i don't think that creating a lot of new pronouns and labels is a good solution.
Ouch, there are multiple things wrong with that video. There not just two biological sexes, for one. :lol: (I mean, are you trying to erase intersex?). And it's also not the case that XX -> female and XY -> male. Take people with Swyer syndrome for instance, this results in people who are externally female, yet have XY. So yes, gender is derived from sex, but that kind of seems like an unnecessary statement to make. Moreover, it's there's no consensus whether there are just two genders. For instance, both India and Bangladesh acknowledge a third gender. There are many more examples, but I don't recall exact names. At 2:50 to 2:55 she's saying that, because you can be basically male or female (it shows XY and XX), your gender must be male or female (it shows ♂ and ♀). This is not necessarily the case, but even if it were, she ignores other known conditions such as X and XXY (not to forget what I said before: XY females). At 3:55 - 4:00 she says "[...] they are definitely not a way to say I trust and respect you". This may sound plausible, until you think about it. If someone were to refer to me as "girl" and "she" all the time, I would definitely not say that they respect me if I tell them to stop and they refuse. She skips over it quickly, but what she's saying is just strange. :lol: She has no idea what others may find respectful or disrespectful. She may find it not a big deal, but to others it might matter a lot. In fact, she later says something about it, that it IS a big deal to trans people which she understands, that kind of defeats the point she just made. I mean, she's basically deciding "oh, it matters to you which I do understand", but then she's not realising that it may matter to non-trans people as well. =] I do find the video a nice attempt and I do share some of her sentiments (switching bracelets telling your gender pronouns seems like an overkill), but it clearly has its flaws. In fact, some of the things in the video are just wrong.
I agree with her, for the most part. Being transgender means you suffer gender dysphoria, and you feel depressed (or sometimes suicidal) for being the gender you were assigned at birth rather than the one your brain has. If you don't have dysphoria and don't feel uncomfortable in your own body (apart from when you specifically ask yourself that question), then you're not transgender and you are the gender you were born with. Brain scans show that MtF transgender people have brains that more closely resemble women, and vise versa for FtM transgenders. Have any such scientific studies been done to prove/disprove the legitimacy of non-binary genders? I seriously doubt that people who call themselves gender fluid have brain structures that constantly change and that this would show up on brain scans.
Shit, what side am i on..??? I agree with both Tritri and Quem... Eh, i guess i'm neutral here. I'd just say to let people do what they want. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ But, yeah, this Youtuber seems like a cool, reasonable and respectful person, i see where they're coming from for the most part. But, of course, there are flaws to every theory.
This thread will either become very controversial or be hugely ignored...whatever lets ruin my reputation a bit... I personally believe that as long as it's not hurting anyone people can identify however the fuck they want. I think that regardless of whether one supports non binary genders or not she makes a very good point when saying that dressing a certain way does not make one male or female since it's an argument that is often used by people as in: "sometimes i dress like a girl and sometimes i dress like a boy so I'm genderfluid"...which is in no way an argument for gender or genderfluidity. The rest depends largely on someone's definition of gender since although there is an actual definition of it most people use the word in very different ways.(and their definition of transgender thus changes accordingly)(for the record people that claim music or void to be their genders are bullshitting regardless of any definition) Lastly i believe that the terms "transsexual" and "transgender" are used interchangeable nowadays which leads to the most confusion in that regard.
