Gender identity!
- Thread starter Munet
- Start date
For one thing, our very language is gendered, and unlike other gendered languages, it is only gendered in the specific case of sex. There’s no Las/Los distinction where tables and chairs have gender, it only applies to actual boys, girls, women, and men. So, it’s important to know a little gender identity information at least, just to be able to carry on a conversation about or with someone.
For another, all the rest of our culture. Marriage, stories, movies, TV, office politics, relationships, dating, family structure, marketing, the law, the military, sports, and almost every single aspect of our culture is highly dependent on knowing someone’s gender.
You’re like a fish who doesn’t notice the ocean. Or a deep-sea creature that doesn’t notice the pressure. It’s like the folks complaining about politics in sports when they take the soldiers, flag, and anthem out of the ballgame. Our society is absolutely swimming in gender. There’s no escaping it.
You know, it’s like politics. I see people say it all the time. “No politics!” “Stop making it political!” et cetera. It’s completely oblivious. Saying “no politics” is exactly like saying “no accent”. If you don’t hear it, it’s because it closely aligns with your own. Not because it’s not there. Well, you could say the same thing about gender. Even talking about whether gender is relevant is talking about gender.
For another, all the rest of our culture. Marriage, stories, movies, TV, office politics, relationships, dating, family structure, marketing, the law, the military, sports, and almost every single aspect of our culture is highly dependent on knowing someone’s gender.
You’re like a fish who doesn’t notice the ocean. Or a deep-sea creature that doesn’t notice the pressure. It’s like the folks complaining about politics in sports when they take the soldiers, flag, and anthem out of the ballgame. Our society is absolutely swimming in gender. There’s no escaping it.
You know, it’s like politics. I see people say it all the time. “No politics!” “Stop making it political!” et cetera. It’s completely oblivious. Saying “no politics” is exactly like saying “no accent”. If you don’t hear it, it’s because it closely aligns with your own. Not because it’s not there. Well, you could say the same thing about gender. Even talking about whether gender is relevant is talking about gender.
My own gender identity is not particularly relevant to anyone else. Instead, what is relevant to others is my gender. Why? Because in our society, we generally need to know a person’s gender to know how to interact with them. Being social animals, we actually interact differently with an individual based on their gender.
So how do we judge a person’s gender in order to know how to interact with them? Well, we don’t do it by analyzing a person’s genes or examining their genitals. Instead, we do it by reading the hundreds of social signals a person exhibits that say what that person’s gender is. (And this is why gender is different than physical sex).
Personally, since I live as both a man and woman, my gender identity changes with my gender. I can’t imagine interacting with the rest of society as a woman if my identity is not a woman. The same with man. But my identity does not define my gender, my social interactions define my gender. But my gender identity does allow me to be comfortable in my gender.
So how do we judge a person’s gender in order to know how to interact with them? Well, we don’t do it by analyzing a person’s genes or examining their genitals. Instead, we do it by reading the hundreds of social signals a person exhibits that say what that person’s gender is. (And this is why gender is different than physical sex).
Personally, since I live as both a man and woman, my gender identity changes with my gender. I can’t imagine interacting with the rest of society as a woman if my identity is not a woman. The same with man. But my identity does not define my gender, my social interactions define my gender. But my gender identity does allow me to be comfortable in my gender.
For one thing, our very language is gendered, and unlike other gendered languages, it is only gendered in the specific case of sex. There’s no Las/Los distinction where tables and chairs have gender; it only applies to actual boys, girls, women and men. So, it’s essential to know a little gender identity information, at least, to converse about or with someone.
For another, all the rest of our culture. Marriage, stories, movies, TV, office politics, relationships, dating, family structure, marketing, the law, the military, sports, and almost every single aspect of our culture highly depends on knowing someone’s gender.
You’re like a fish who overlooks the ocean. Or a deep-sea creature that doesn’t notice the pressure. It’s like the folks complaining about politics in sports when they take the soldiers, flag and anthem out of the ballgame. Our society is swimming in gender. There’s no escaping it.
You know, it’s like politics. I see people say it all the time. “No politics!” “Stop making it political!” et cetera. It’s completely oblivious. Saying “no politics” is exactly like saying “no accent”. If you don’t hear it, it’s because it closely aligns with your own. Not because it’s not there. Well, you could say the same thing about gender. Even talking about whether gender is relevant is talking about gender.
For another, all the rest of our culture. Marriage, stories, movies, TV, office politics, relationships, dating, family structure, marketing, the law, the military, sports, and almost every single aspect of our culture highly depends on knowing someone’s gender.
You know, it’s like politics. I see people say it all the time. “No politics!” “Stop making it political!” et cetera. It’s completely oblivious. Saying “no politics” is exactly like saying “no accent”. If you don’t hear it, it’s because it closely aligns with your own. Not because it’s not there. Well, you could say the same thing about gender. Even talking about whether gender is relevant is talking about gender.
