What is a woman? - Radfems and the TERF Perspective
May 31, 2015 7:11:36 GMT 8
Ayla, Sisyphus, and 1 more like this
Post by Ativan Prescribed on May 31, 2015 7:11:36 GMT 8
Culture is based on a binary gender system, it's simple and easy for those who, for the most part, fall into the definitions of gender in that system.
But culture itself is attitude, and there are a lot of accepted and given attitudes in society that reinforce a binary gender system.
Culture has certain expectations, regardless of what the culture is.
Most of the world, especially the first world countries use a culture that has a strong attitude for a binary system of gender.
Not everyone meets the expectations of culture, binary gender is just one of those.
There are all sorts of cultural expectations that just can't be met, a long list of them.
There is a certain amount of leeway built into those expectations that allow those who don't meet them to still be a viable part of social culture.
There even is in binary gender, a tomboy is just one example. Culture accepts a certain amount of gender difference from the binary system.
But culture aside, societies over simplified version of gender is defined by the most common of apparent aspects of sex, our birth configuration.
It is to the point of genital mutilation if you're not born within what is defined as correct. Strong stuff, deeply held beliefs in that system.
So what it comes down to, is attitude.
We are told we need to be this or that, but for some, that doesn't work.
You're supposed to 'act' like what your sex is, and that is what your gender is as well.
This is where the system breaks down, falls apart, doesn't hold up to cultural norms...
Because gender is based on your sex, and that belief is so tightly held that babies are 'fixed' if they don't meet the criteria of that belief.
Nobody teaches you that there is a difference, the tightly held cultural belief is that your sex and your gender are one and the same.
It's interchangeable, the definitions for each are closely matched, I think it's only biologists and some psychologists who actually realize there is a difference.
For trans people, most understand it, but even within the community, there are some who don't get it.
Also, this cultural belief system is so strong that those who understand their attitude to be that of the opposite assigned gender, see a need to change themselves to have the sex characteristics to go along with their attitude, the way they think of their gender.
That's the cultural side of it. The belief system is so strong, they have a need to change their physical appearance to match up with the belief.
A woman is, within the cultural belief system, an attitude, but not just an attitude, but one about the expectations they are given.
For trans people, the issue becomes an attitude of opposition in varying degrees, still based on the cultural gender belief system.
The same thing can be said of a man as well.
But even this is a generalization, a simplified way to explain it, one used by trans people as well as cis people to define their worlds.
There is no easy answer and I don't know if there even is one, but we have a lot more ideas about it in theory's than ever before.
They help to clear the question up, as well as muddy up the notions as well.
Is it a spark of what some people refer to as their soul?
Could be, but we need to answer the question of whether there is one or not in some quantifiable way.
Is it the way a brain is formed, the wiring so to speak? Seems like that might be a possibility as well.
Either way or even both ways, it seems to be evident in children once they start to see the cultural belief system of gender.
But what they are perceiving is attitude, the way we are taught to be culturally.
How do they know they are different?
They only just discovered there is a difference, that it just registered in their consciousness that there is a difference.
What tipped them off, the attitude or something deeper than that?
It would seem that it is much deeper or complicated than cultural beliefs tell us.
Most likely they came to a conclusion or realization of their gender from both, attitude and what we have yet to define in a quantifiable way.
The best guess answer would seem to be, for now, attitude, whether inherent or learned.
That society is learning to adjust it's cultural beliefs to allow for more variance in the gender belief system, the definition itself is changing.
Culture is catching up to societal beliefs and those are changing as more people understand that your assigned sex is one thing and your gender is another.
As gender itself is being investigated as to just what it is, the definition of it is changing, so it follows that the definition of what is a woman is as well.
That there are some small but loud groups of people who just refuse to accept these changes, we have some who just don't get it, at all.
That's my best guess answer to the original question, What is a Woman?..
The Radfem and TERF perspective is not much better than Westboro's take on religion and probably shouldn't be a part of the question...
But culture itself is attitude, and there are a lot of accepted and given attitudes in society that reinforce a binary gender system.
Culture has certain expectations, regardless of what the culture is.
Most of the world, especially the first world countries use a culture that has a strong attitude for a binary system of gender.
Not everyone meets the expectations of culture, binary gender is just one of those.
There are all sorts of cultural expectations that just can't be met, a long list of them.
There is a certain amount of leeway built into those expectations that allow those who don't meet them to still be a viable part of social culture.
There even is in binary gender, a tomboy is just one example. Culture accepts a certain amount of gender difference from the binary system.
But culture aside, societies over simplified version of gender is defined by the most common of apparent aspects of sex, our birth configuration.
It is to the point of genital mutilation if you're not born within what is defined as correct. Strong stuff, deeply held beliefs in that system.
So what it comes down to, is attitude.
We are told we need to be this or that, but for some, that doesn't work.
You're supposed to 'act' like what your sex is, and that is what your gender is as well.
This is where the system breaks down, falls apart, doesn't hold up to cultural norms...
Because gender is based on your sex, and that belief is so tightly held that babies are 'fixed' if they don't meet the criteria of that belief.
Nobody teaches you that there is a difference, the tightly held cultural belief is that your sex and your gender are one and the same.
It's interchangeable, the definitions for each are closely matched, I think it's only biologists and some psychologists who actually realize there is a difference.
For trans people, most understand it, but even within the community, there are some who don't get it.
Also, this cultural belief system is so strong that those who understand their attitude to be that of the opposite assigned gender, see a need to change themselves to have the sex characteristics to go along with their attitude, the way they think of their gender.
That's the cultural side of it. The belief system is so strong, they have a need to change their physical appearance to match up with the belief.
A woman is, within the cultural belief system, an attitude, but not just an attitude, but one about the expectations they are given.
For trans people, the issue becomes an attitude of opposition in varying degrees, still based on the cultural gender belief system.
The same thing can be said of a man as well.
But even this is a generalization, a simplified way to explain it, one used by trans people as well as cis people to define their worlds.
There is no easy answer and I don't know if there even is one, but we have a lot more ideas about it in theory's than ever before.
They help to clear the question up, as well as muddy up the notions as well.
Is it a spark of what some people refer to as their soul?
Could be, but we need to answer the question of whether there is one or not in some quantifiable way.
Is it the way a brain is formed, the wiring so to speak? Seems like that might be a possibility as well.
Either way or even both ways, it seems to be evident in children once they start to see the cultural belief system of gender.
But what they are perceiving is attitude, the way we are taught to be culturally.
How do they know they are different?
They only just discovered there is a difference, that it just registered in their consciousness that there is a difference.
What tipped them off, the attitude or something deeper than that?
It would seem that it is much deeper or complicated than cultural beliefs tell us.
Most likely they came to a conclusion or realization of their gender from both, attitude and what we have yet to define in a quantifiable way.
The best guess answer would seem to be, for now, attitude, whether inherent or learned.
That society is learning to adjust it's cultural beliefs to allow for more variance in the gender belief system, the definition itself is changing.
Culture is catching up to societal beliefs and those are changing as more people understand that your assigned sex is one thing and your gender is another.
As gender itself is being investigated as to just what it is, the definition of it is changing, so it follows that the definition of what is a woman is as well.
That there are some small but loud groups of people who just refuse to accept these changes, we have some who just don't get it, at all.
That's my best guess answer to the original question, What is a Woman?..
The Radfem and TERF perspective is not much better than Westboro's take on religion and probably shouldn't be a part of the question...