
The Truth About Sex Differences - LeoJiWoo
https://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/201711/the-truth-about-sex-differences
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Overtonwindow
I want to believe that there are many differences and ideas of gender, but I
feel this tug from science that there are really only two.

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ashleyn
The "two or many genders" debate really is just a debate on how society should
integrate people whose behaviour doesn't conform to their physical sex.
There's often an _objective_ phenomenon (sex-nonconformity) that is
interpreted _subjectively_ by a given culture. The best way I can put it
across is how different cultures have different "genders". All this means is
that they interpret what's going on differently.

In foreign cultures like some Indian tribes or the Samoans, gender non-
confirmity is typically regarded as a third category (two-spirit, fa'fafine).
There's men, women, and then this "third gender" which is really just a third
category for the relationship between expected roles and one's birth sex.
Contrast to in the west, where until very recently, we denied gender non-
conformity ever even happened. Then, we considered it a "disease" where you
were "born in the wrong body". So people born male with this "disease" are
"cured" with hormones and surgeries that will allow them to pass themselves as
"female". It's the same underlying psychological phenonomon viewed through two
different cultural lenses.

Those who claim there are more than two genders are really just trying to
advocate for a model of gender that rejects the "disease" model that western
medicine rather arbitrarily came up with some time in the 1940s. It resembles
a western spin on how indigineous cultures handled this issue, placing it into
a "third category", while at the same time respecting those who identify as
women under the "disease" model.

The only reason this issue is so damn radioactive is there's a false notion
that a specific model of gender should be pushed onto the population at large
by legislative fiat (hate-crimes legislation, other regulations on private
business). I suggest if you don't agree with a specific model of gender, then
don't, because there's no single right way to classify something as long as
you keep all the facts in mind (such as the reality that not all people born
men are going to "act like men.") But the freedom to assess the facts and
decide upon what model of gender works for both the individual in question and
the people they voluntarily associate with will be paramount in maintaining
the dignity of everyone involved.

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rabidrat
Very insightful analysis, thank you.

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benbenolson
Reads very well, as far as psychological articles go. Explains everything
comprehensively and clearly.

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tonymet
I'll wager that no one ventures to broach the third rail of internet
discussion topics.

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jgowdy
How many people here wrote a comment and then hit cancel before posting it?

