The "What Are You Doing This Moment" Thread

New vocabulary always encounters resistance. I remember when using the word "partner" almost always meant you identified as a gay person. Now plenty of straight people use it to refer to their SO's.
 
That being said, in order for a new word to take off, it does have to be received with enthusiasm.

I don't think so. First the media spreads it, then people start having discussions like the one we are having here, then people start using it sarcastically, and eventually it becomes so common that people forget the sarcasm part and it becomes 'legit'.
 
I find it amusing that loads of gender studies or feminist boo booing about gender as a binary was based around the sad tale of one guy that got his penis destroyed by a shitty doctor trying to circumcise him as a baby. The guy got brought up as a girl instead, it worked for a while, so all of the feminists celebrated and cracked the beams with their shrill cries, but then, as a deeply unhappy and quite male adult, the dude committed suicide. So basically, they based all of this shit on ONE CASE and that ONE CASE ceased to prove, in any way, the point that they were trying to make (that gender is a social construct).

They also tend to suggest that transvestites, crossdressers and intersex people are the "gray area" between genders, but you could just say that intersex people and generally those with odd chromosone arrangements, are some kind of third gender or "other", but people who genetically belong to a gender, belong to that gender. Why do I make that distinction, well, we don't even know what it's like to "be" the other gender. Supposedly men and women even see colours differently, they have different hormone levels affecting their feelings, they have complex biological differences between them and males. So to say someone is totally female because they had a sex change is kind of primitive and pretentious.
 
They also tend to suggest that transvestites, crossdressers and intersex people are the "gray area" between genders, but you could just say that intersex people and generally those with odd chromosone arrangements, are some kind of third gender or "other", but people who genetically belong to a gender, belong to that gender. Why do I make that distinction, well, we don't even know what it's like to "be" the other gender. Supposedly men and women even see colours differently, they have different hormone levels affecting their feelings, they have complex biological differences between them and males. So to say someone is totally female because they had a sex change is kind of primitive and pretentious.


Well the problem is not all men and not all women have the same hormonal balance and or levels. Sometimes hormonal levels can be indicated in features too. When you think about feminine" features on a women, and "what makes a face feminine" it's a small chin, big eyes and big lips. These are considered estrogen indicators and the opposite of these features (i.e. small eyes, small lips, big chin) are considered to be testosterone indicators, generally speaking. So there are men who visibly and naturally have more estrogen than others and vice versa. Is it enough to say they are totally female if this cis male went through a complete gender change? I don't know to be honest. But it is enough for me to put him in the gray area because his hormonal levels are different than the average male.
 
I've never understood why we have to use the terms "girlfriend" and "boyfriend" regardless of the age of the people in question, and especially when they fall several decades short of being "girls" or "boys."
 
So there are men who visibly and naturally have more estrogen than others and vice versa. Is it enough to say they are totally female if this cis male went through a complete gender change? I don't know to be honest. But it is enough for me to put him in the gray area because his hormonal levels are different than the average male.

But he still produces sperm, has a penis, lacks ovaries, a uterus, a vagina, a clitoris, etc.
 
I think it's fine to make up a new pronoun and use it, as well as identify oneself as whatever the fuck you want as long as you don't hurt others, but if people pushing new pronouns want to be taken seriously, they should stop saying things like that. Male and female are the genders.

Unless you're a hermaphrodite, you fit into the "restrictive" binary. But you don't have to identify by it. It's not that you are not the gender, but that you don't identify as it, and I think that sounds more reasonable than saying, "I have a penis, but I'm not a man." Try, "I have a penis, but I identify as something different than man or woman and would prefer to be treated as such."

This "gender binary" exists in a lot of plants and most animals, and has existed in most cultures in history. The only exceptions I can think of are a third gender in Sumerian mythology and a Hindu god that is both male and female.

Biological sex =/= gender identity
 
Which is exactly why people are better off not arguing against this "Western gender binary" and simply saying they personally identify themselves as something different from how people would identify them based on their genitalia and chromosomes.
 
Which is exactly why people are better off not arguing against this "Western gender binary" and simply saying they personally identify themselves as something different from how people would identify them based on their genitalia and chromosomes.

The better idea is to not use biological sex to determine perceived gender identity in general.

However one self-identifies and their expression of such is all that should matter in non-medical situations (where biological males/females are at higher risks of certain things happening to them, or obviously pregnancy etc.)
 
We're pretty much saying the same thing. Identify yourself however you want, whether it fits into anything associated with biological sex or not, but using language like "Western gender binary" just sounds ridiculous to those who don't understand these things.

If someone thinks your identity is determined by your gender, saying that we live in a binary system that is restrictive will sound like you're trying to argue that biologically there aren't two genders, since biological gender is gender identity to them.
 
It might, but I'm not concerned if people think that I'm saying something like that. If they want to know what I mean I'm willing to explain to them that sex is not gender and that while there primarily are two sexes (with the occasional intersex person) gender should not be viewed in that light.

It should be thought of as a "spectrum"

gender_spectrum_blank_by_prettyfrog-d46km6h.png
 
If people think that's what you're saying, you have to change the way you express yourself to get the meaning across. I don't disagree with you on how people can identify themselves, but the approach you take with getting those who don't understand these things to understand them.