My Political Rant Book

Is Gender a Social Construct?

Is gender a social construct? No, I don't think so. I do think there are preconceived notions of what it MEANS to be a man and a woman that are social constructs, but I think gender is not an abstract term, it's a concrete sense of identity. There's certain things that are social, for instance the idea that woman's clothing must be flowy is socially engineered (skirts and dresses) while men's should not. This is even more evident because unlike many things such as gender roles which remain almost constant across societies, clothing changes. Some societies accept what we we would've considered censorable nudity, while others believe what we think is normal is blasphemous. Feminine and masculine clothing are social products.

I'm truscum, if that's what the cool kids call it, in what I believe to be that gender dysphoria is neccessary to be trans. When your perceived identity conflicts with your outer body, i.e. your biological sex, it's a mental disorder, and that's gender dysphoria, and correcting that probably means transitioning. I believe that for most people gender and sex don't collide, but for the some that it does, access to transitioning and therapy should be available, with certain warnings especially for young transitioners because such changes can also permanently render you infertile. If that's not something you'd want, sperm or eggs should be frozen separately. It shouldn't be taken lightly, is what I mean.

In what I see gender stereotypes and expectations to be, I see it as a blend. True, men are more protective, women are usually nurturing, but it's not a hard and fast rule. Upon noting this, it could be said that reinforcing these stereotypes is bad. Things should be allowed to naturally play out, and even if the majority falls back into gendered patterns, at least the minorities can do as they please. Isn't that equality- freedom of choice, rather than 100% outcome?

So yeah, that's pretty much my opinion on gender. There's three of them- male, female and nb/gnc. There can be variations in the third, but they'd all face primarily similar issues, and even if they're deemed separate labels, the categorical classifications are three. It's not a social construct, biological sex is a reality, for those that are trans they'll always be biologically one thing but they can present as another, dysphoria is necessary, and I don't like sixty-three gender ideology. Gender and sex are separate, but for most people they correspond and basically end up being one-and-the-same, and I don't think a deconstruction of the binary for the small minority is necessarily the right step towards gender equality, it should be more about erasing social standards upheld for men and women.