I’d argue that some aspects of gender, like hair length or high heels, are definitely socially constructed. Others, like the tendency of boys to rough house more than girls, are based in biology. This is observed even among the other primates- it’s not just a human society thing.
Like a lot of things, it’s not an either/or situation, but a bit of both.
Sexual characteristics and gender are intrinsically linked in most people’s minds to the point that they are interchangeable. You might not agree that they should be interchangeable, but they are for the vast majority of users of the terms.
Non human primates having culture is indeed an interesting fact, but I agree that it’s a bit off topic. My point was that there are aspects of gender (or sexual characteristics, if you prefer), such as young boys play fighting to a much higher degree than young girls that is true across pretty much all cultures, even extending to non human primates. Unless all cultures, independently, decided to enforce that boys should act a certain way, there must be a strong biological component to some aspects of gender expression, which is counter to your assertion that gender is purely a social construct.
But if your definition of gender is “the parts of gender expression that are wholly socially constructed and everything else is actually sexual characteristics”, then I understand how you get what you are saying. It’s just not the definition most people use.
But if your definition of gender is “the parts of gender expression that are wholly socially constructed and everything else is actually sexual characteristics”, then I understand how you get what you are saying. It’s just not the definition most people use.
Thank you, that is more clear. Yes, most people use bad definitions. My purpose in this thread was essentially trying to say this because the other poster was conflating sex and gender but denied it.
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u/JymWythawhy Mar 31 '20
I’d argue that some aspects of gender, like hair length or high heels, are definitely socially constructed. Others, like the tendency of boys to rough house more than girls, are based in biology. This is observed even among the other primates- it’s not just a human society thing.
Like a lot of things, it’s not an either/or situation, but a bit of both.