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Unread 21-04-2016, 22:48
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Re: FIRST LGBT+ (A blog by and about LGBT+ people in FIRST)

Note: This rambles entirely away from my original point, but feels like a good post instead of whatever I was deleting earlier today, so I'm posting anyways.
Quote:
Originally Posted by anonymous123 View Post
I think that the best way I to determine gender of a person is to use the gender of a person's body. This is just my opinion, and it likely won't change until I see scientific fact that proves otherwise.
I feel I should point out that you've already, scientifically, lost on this point. There's SO much complication, subtlety, and gray area just in how gender genotype translates into realized phenotype:
XX males
XY females
Genetic Chimeras
Various other Intersex Humans

Welcome to biology, where all your engineering notions of sharp lines and strict categories are about as useful as a calculus book in a jungle. "Gender of a person's body" is a scientifically vague concept. And if your answer is "I knows it when I sees it"... well that doesn't seem like a useful way of organizing a society.

Which is really what it comes down to. The whole notion of gender as a binary and gender roles as immutably tied to someone's assigned-at-birth gender is a social construct. It's like how paper money is valuable only because society as a whole has "decided" it's useful to think a piece of paper with a dead person's portrait is a fair trade for a ham sandwich. Traditional gender identity and gender roles were presumably useful to society at some point. We're just pointing out they have little connection to fundamental reality, are actively harmful in many ways, and are thus becoming less useful every year. They're purely a social construct, and it's time to re-think them and update them to work better for everyone.

Since there isn't some board of Managers of Society to petition about this, the next best (only) option is to talk about LBGT+ issues openly and explain to anyone who wants to listen how those traditional* ideas are harmful and less than useful.

*Shouldn't forget that the traditions we hold so dear are pretty US/Christian/Euro Centric and will vary in other places and cultures. Which, again, social constructs.
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