Right, gender defined as the gestalt of gendered behaviors is useless in describing real people, and granting that definition of gender real existence is hugely harmful to any attempt at parity between the sexes (and is abhorrent in the same way that dictating individuals’ behavior based on any physical feature is abhorrent).
But! I feel as if there’s a difference between how the word “gender” would be used in a feminist conversation vs. a trans/genderqueer one.
Given that there are people who feel uncomfortable with their sex (whether for biological, psychological, or socially-driven reasons), and given that there needs to be a term for “the sex I feel myself to have regardless of my biological sex”, I think that the term “gender” can be useful – and, further, only has value so long as it is not assumed to predict behavior. I’d personally separate “one’s sense of sex” and “one’s sense of how to behave as it is informed by gendered expectations, one’s sense of sex, and one’s decisions to ignore or accept these things” into two separate boxes, and I think one of the huge flaws in trans discussions is that these two things are not kept separate.
Of course, that separation is much easier to do so long as we are talking about a sex binary, in which there are males and females (and men and woman who might fit into either of those biological boxes); I think your issue is with crossgender/genderqueer/etc. people, though, who feel they fall between the sexes?
I am, in fact, puzzled and uncomfortable with those who label themselves as crossgender or genderqueer or transgender but don’t have issue with their biological sex – because that does grant gender-as-gendered-behavior an existence that is harmful. No woman should have to claim genderqueerness to like power tools; on the other side of the coin, a genderqueer female person shouldn’t feel obligated to like them, either.
(Thank you for providing the opportunity to have civil discourse! But wow, do I ever need to brush up on my conversational skills; to clarify, because I don't think I'm managing my tone perfectly, here: I don't think there's anything like The Truth in this particular discussion, where it's all social constructions and subjective experience. Just differing experiences of those social constructs.)
no subject
Date: 5 Mar 2010 11:00 pm (UTC)But! I feel as if there’s a difference between how the word “gender” would be used in a feminist conversation vs. a trans/genderqueer one.
Given that there are people who feel uncomfortable with their sex (whether for biological, psychological, or socially-driven reasons), and given that there needs to be a term for “the sex I feel myself to have regardless of my biological sex”, I think that the term “gender” can be useful – and, further, only has value so long as it is not assumed to predict behavior. I’d personally separate “one’s sense of sex” and “one’s sense of how to behave as it is informed by gendered expectations, one’s sense of sex, and one’s decisions to ignore or accept these things” into two separate boxes, and I think one of the huge flaws in trans discussions is that these two things are not kept separate.
Of course, that separation is much easier to do so long as we are talking about a sex binary, in which there are males and females (and men and woman who might fit into either of those biological boxes); I think your issue is with crossgender/genderqueer/etc. people, though, who feel they fall between the sexes?
I am, in fact, puzzled and uncomfortable with those who label themselves as crossgender or genderqueer or transgender but don’t have issue with their biological sex – because that does grant gender-as-gendered-behavior an existence that is harmful. No woman should have to claim genderqueerness to like power tools; on the other side of the coin, a genderqueer female person shouldn’t feel obligated to like them, either.
(Thank you for providing the opportunity to have civil discourse! But wow, do I ever need to brush up on my conversational skills; to clarify, because I don't think I'm managing my tone perfectly, here: I don't think there's anything like The Truth in this particular discussion, where it's all social constructions and subjective experience. Just differing experiences of those social constructs.)