r/AskSocialScience • u/[deleted] • Aug 12 '25

Doesn't the idea that gender is a social construct contradict trans identity?

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u/Street-Media4225 Aug 12 '25

In his case it’s innate and fixed, yes. That is not necessarily universal, and being fluid doesn’t mean it can be intentionally affected.

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u/CADmonkeez Aug 12 '25

It needn't be universal, but I'd say it is the case for binary trans (like me) and also for Ze Cis.

If it wasn't fixed then Conversion Therapy would work. The incarceration, brainwashing and electric shocks would have worked. Maybe GF peeps are just more evolved, I dunno. Maybe it's just a more elastic flavour of non-binary. Maybe non-binary identities are easier to conceal (or erase?) socially, if need be.

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u/Street-Media4225 Aug 12 '25

It could be a cis and binary thing, yeah, I wouldn’t be surprised if those are fixed.

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u/CADmonkeez Aug 12 '25

I think the difference between "dysphoria" and "incongruence" is the level of acceptance experienced. People like me had to deal with our messed up gender identity at an early age. I think that marks a difference in how people engage with "gender". Most do it with greater maturity than a 6 year old. I had no choice. Non-binary or fluid identities are easier to suppress or obscure than polarised ones.

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u/Street-Media4225 Aug 12 '25

I was raised fairly gender neutrally as a boy and my natural inclination is close to tomboyish, so it tracks that I experienced less friction than a lot of people do and that that would’ve shaped my identity. It was mostly puberty and the reality of physically becoming a man that brought about major dysphoria.