#Gender is a Construct

[cephalopod-celabrator]

It is inherently fun and sexy to say statements that swap the traditional genders of pronouns and terms mid-statement, such as: "I'm going to make him my wife" "She's my boyfriend" "Who says a guy can't be a pretty princess?" "That girl's the coolest dude I've ever met" "She's a madman who has to be stopped" "It's not his fault he's a material girl" Gender is a set of watercolors and the prettiest shades come from mixing the paints together.

[cooking-with-hailstones]

This meme came to me in a vision please enjoy

[enbycrip]

We’ve seen it everywhere. But it’s incredibly important that this is seen, discussed and accepted in academic discourse for a whole bunch of reasons.

The misogynist idea that AFAB and AMAB bodies are fundamentally very different and that AFAB bodies are fundamentally inferior is putting up a huge fight atm.

It’s not only “gender criticals”, though they are a big part of this and transphobia is one of the big battlegrounds of it. It’s also the anti-choice stuff rolling across the US trying to define any body capable of pregnancy as having its primary function being a vessel for foetuses.

And to do that you need to play up the idea that those bodies are fundamentally very different, and that AFAB bodies are fundamentally “intended” for pregnancy and birth. Enforcing this fake history where AFAB lives were entirely defined by pregnancy, birth and child-rearing is a weapon in that, and exposing it as ideological rather than evidence-based is *incredibly* fucking important.

This *doesn’t* mean that we should stop pointing out the fundamentally ridiculous nature of considering hunting as important as it is painted in popular culture when most studies consider that 80% minimum of “hunter-gatherer” societies’ food is foraged. It’s a fundamentally Victorian construct that considers “hunting is the active, ‘masculine’ work so therefore it must be the *real* work of a society”, no matter how much evidence is found that foraging was far more fundamental to survival.

It is *so* important to keep on emphasising the constructed nature of not only human gender, but gendered structures in human societies.

There is this huge sociopolitical push from “conservative” religious and cultural forces all over the planet rn to push the idea that certain social structures - fundamentally misogynist ones - are somehow “innate”, “inherent” and “natural”.

Hence the push to attack trans people in particular. We put the lie to so many of their cherished myths just by existing. We are living magic - the proof of human fluidity; the living potential for change; the living promise that things Don’t Have To Be This Way.

[glowing-tiger]

Happy Pride Month y'all! 💜🦄🏳️‍🌈

[scarletbeast]

But what IS gender

[jaisaac-cosplay]

I LOVE MEN WHO ARE WOMEN AND WOMEN WHO ARE MEN RAAAAH

[mx-lamour]

It took going to a party full of unfamiliar women who I seemed to actually (for the most part) vibe with for me to realize...

I'm usually full-on afraid of women.

Cool.

Cool cool cool.

[elvhenfaer]

If you’re in a bathroom (or literally anywhere) with me, you’re safe. If I hear anyone of any gender who presents in any way say “no” or “get off me” and the aggressor keeps pushing, I will go full WWE and smash them over the head with a metal chair.

[mixedbag-o-beans]

boy? girl?? ma’am i am an indoor cat that accidentally got locked out in the rain LET ME IN

[morg-among-the-stars]

Gender is wack I’m just gonna have my short haircuts and cute outfits and fun earrings and a cool girlfriend who calls me handsome as well as pretty

I’m just gonna see myself in some softer male characters while holding female characters close to my heart and I’m just happy as Me and that’s what really matters at the end of the day regardless of what anybody thinks or says

[deathbutwithfuzzyanimals]

Being fem isn’t enough I want to have transfem energy

[strhwaberries]

ahaha twt atinys are still pressed about the sweater dress, like why can't we call it a dress, what is wrong about him wearing a dress, also he's my wife, just so you know

[eyebagsanonymous]

Was called a genderqueer jesus the other day and if that isn't my whole personality

[vizthedatum]

You know how you realize that your attraction inevitably becomes t4t and it’s incredibly hard to date cis people because they’ll always fundamentally see you as a woman (Or “femme” (when I say “femme” - I do not mean that as a substitute, it’s a vibe. Anyone can be femme - we all have it within us) or AFAB or a similar weird binary characterization)?

[durenjtmusings]

Don’t say cis female. Say cis woman. Female and male are false dichotomies and false science.

While I see your point, I’ve never really identified with society’s vision for “woman”. I’m me, I’ve always identified the same way, and I have 2 X chromosomes. So ‘cis’-to communicate that I have no idea what trans folks experiences are like, and female as I have created another human inside me-like most XX chromosome mammals. All other gender identity labels I feel are superfluous to who I feel I am.

Reality is what we each perceive it to be, making communication an ever-evolving art and struggle.

[tarsomere]

…yeah i don’t really have an explanation for this