The Sex Debate - Page 2

Posted: 11 years ago
Originally posted by return_to_hades


Gender identity is important because of how society functions. There is a certain level of social conditioning to how genders behave and interact. In an ideal world we would all be human and gender would be subordinate to personality and human qualities. But it is impossible to have a society completely devoid of gender identity. The best we can do is make a sincere attempt for gender equity and ending gender stereotypes.

 

I don't know how important gender identity really is. Many of my best friends growing up were boys. So I've been a tom boy with boyish qualities since I was a kid. I don't mind being perceived as androgynous or boyish. But at the end of the day, I'm still a girl and I do place some relative importance on being seen as a girl.

 

To a large extent, I think we identify with and embrace our biology and have an affinity to it. It may not be an expression of oneself, but it is one part of self expression. Gender, nationality, language, culture, race, religion, class, income, social status and a plethora of other things collectively form self expression.

 

Sometimes gender seems trivial, but when we see transgender children/people struggle to fit in and gain an identity ' we realize how important it really is in society. Perhaps the world would be better without so much gender emphasis ' but it's a double edged sword. Can we really strip away all these little identifiers that make who we are. Without it we would all be nothing but one carbon compound life form indistinguishable from the other.



I have always believed that people learn to be women and men vs what they are born as! We tend to confuse sex with gender, while sex is your biological and physiological characteristic which defines a person from male to female vs gender is where society sets the rules to your behavior.  If such rules weren't set would we have been different people all together?


Edited by -Aarya- - 11 years ago
Posted: 11 years ago
Originally posted by _Angie_


Why is person's gender (sex) identity (male/female/others) so important to people?

Its a part of social conditioning. Other than that you could blame grammatical compulsions for it. When I refer to you in the third person should I use he/she/her/him ...? You get the practical problem faced?  ðŸ˜†

Lets go with the it reference, how would you address an animal 😆 And I have been recently told by someone that I am their first ever genderless friend 😉


How important is our gender identity?

My off hand response was that it hardly matters but I guess we tend to take a lot of things in our life for granted. The ordeal that an athlete who was brought up as a female  had to face due to the gender determination tests she had to go through highlights the significance it can sometimes assume. For details of the case you could check here-  http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/india/india-athlete-gender-ordeal

Some genetic or hormonal conditions could get diagnosed much later in life (around puberty) and change the whole course of a person's life. It would be quite traumatic for a person to suddenly be told that  she /he is not the gender that she /he had believed to be all these years.

There was an article which I read some time back about a Toronto couple who hid their son's gender for 5 years. And majority of the psychology research done on that subject states that "It's hard to say whether being raised gender-neutral will have any immediate or long-term psychological consequences for a child, purely because to date there is little empirical research examining this topic." So with out any research or proof of the psychological effect on the child, he could just live a natural life, wouldn't you agree? 


Is gender really an expression of one's essential self?

No, I dont think so. It is more of a conditioned response.

Posted: 11 years ago
Originally posted by -Aarya-


You want me to refer you as it? 😲 I am afraid I am socially cnditioned not to do it 😆
Hmmm ...I d refer to an animal as she or he if I knew its gender . I bet that poor thing must be going through hell to find the truth unless too sloshed to mind anything 😆

Originally posted by -Aarya-


I would not expect a gender neutral upbringing to cause any problem in leading a natural life for the individual provided the person grew up with the ability to handle any criticism that may come his way. The later is more important than any gender neutrality to maintain one's sanity IMO 😛
Posted: 11 years ago
Though instead of judging one as per their gender is wrong I cant refuse this is ones individuality which we cannot refuse. 
Like people r biased towards male particularly in our society. this should not happen. members of both genders should be treated equally.  

Posted: 11 years ago
Originally posted by _Angie_





You want me to refer you as it? 😲 I am afraid I am socially cnditioned not to do it 😆
Hmmm ...I d refer to an animal as she or he if I knew its gender . I bet that poor thing must be going through hell to find the truth unless too sloshed to mind anything 😆

I would not expect a gender neutral upbringing to cause any problem in leading a natural life for the individual provided the person grew up with the ability to handle any criticism that may come his way. The later is more important than any gender neutrality to maintain one's sanity IMO 😛


I have never felt bad for someone as I now feel for my new friend who thinks I am genderless 😆  What kind of friend am I  😲
Posted: 11 years ago
Originally posted by hkl75


Though instead of judging one as per their gender is wrong I cant refuse this is ones individuality which we cannot refuse. 
Like people r biased towards male particularly in our society. this should not happen. members of both genders should be treated equally.  



Your individuality is your choice! I too agree that people should be treated equal regardless of their gender!

Posted: 11 years ago
Originally posted by TheTruth




I do not necessarily agree there. There may be some truth to it though. I personally do not believe that each gender is supposed to behave certain way or do certain kinds of jobs. After all, we have women who pretty much wear everything that men wear (and more). We have stay at home dads too these days.
Though your question is hypothetical, think about it. That is how it all started at point zero. Why do you think it would be any different if we start all over again? Society will be formed (we are social animals after all) and based on the genetics and inherent different inner urges, men and women will again end up with differences. So, yes, gender defines a lot of stuff for a person. Lot of other things are social and those things (stereotypes) are dying.


It's not about starting over, but rather changing your current thought process! Ok, let me simplify by asking what does it mean to be a woman or man? Why are men always stereotyped as masculine and not feminine?
Edited by -Aarya- - 11 years ago
Posted: 11 years ago
Originally posted by King-Anu


You sure have increased the viewership of this topic by 20-30% by using the word "sex" instead of "gender". lol
 
@ topic. To be honest I am not clear on the question. The word gender is used in social and culture context while word sex reflects physical attributes. I identify to my gender however not satisfied by gender role i.e. expression of gender identity. To me that is more important.
 
I hope someone with more knowledge on this topic and who understood the question will be able to give a more appropriate and relevant answer.  
 
Let me present to you a case of confused gender identity. lol. sorry couldnt resist
 
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veoweOUFJpo[/YOUTUBE]
I wrote to vintu he's funniest on IF...now torn between you and him 😆
Posted: 11 years ago
let me try same question differently which should be easier to answer.
 
Lets say we are given a choice to be reborn as male or female.. what would you choose and why?
 
my answer would be I am female in this life and would want to be reborn as female..
reasons being(sorry its going to sound like a bit beauty pageant contest, but men may have more interesting answer)
  women experience more in life(childbirth , emotions)
  woman are special gender, we get to choose(not always but generally)
  live longer, better health
  non violent
  can multitask
  better memories
  understand love better
 
will add more as I remember...
thoughts?
 
Posted: 11 years ago
Originally posted by TheTruth



Male. Can't imagine to sit and pee.
😆 you win a point .. men are defo funnier you just proved above.. women are so edgy...

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