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Steve QJ's avatar

"Gender is a social construct that we have developed around the biological reality of sex."

I think this is actually the sticking point for many people, myself included.

I've yet to see how "gender," as it's used by some members of the trans community, is anything more than, the collection of stereotypical male/female behaviours and expectations that appeals to a particular individual.

And by this definition, it seems obvious that there are as many genders as there are people. So while, yes, those stereotypical behaviours and expectations are socially constructed, we still see, in every single person, a different constellation of those stereotypes. And, indeed, we see many women who defy those stereotypes in various ways while still being women.

I've written about this here. https://commentary.steveqj.com/p/trans-women-are-not-women-and-thats

p.s. On "almost nobody believing" that a boy who plays with plays with dolls is really a girl, I've lost count of the number of times I've seen people making arguments exactly like this.

The article I've just linked to has a few. Here's trans charity Mermaids showing off training materials that literally presents gender on a continuum from G.I Joe to Barbie (https://x.com/steevqj/status/1755353186687180906?s=20). Trans reddit is filled with people explaining that they knew they were trans as children because they liked playing with dolls or wearing their mother's makeup.

It's always difficult to get a true sense of how prevalent a certain attitude is within a group. I try to be very careful about painting in broad strokes. But I think the viewpoint is more common than you're painting it here.

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