Yet you keep referring to biology. I have already been over this and we are going in circles because you won't address what a non-biological gender is and keep brining up biology while saying that gender is not biological. You haven't addressed the questions I posed about gender being social, nor have you explained which feelings one is referring to if gender is a feeling.So their delusion is in thinking that the English noun "woman" doesn't just mean "an adult human with an XX karyotype, ovaries, and a vagina"?
Well, this isn't a delusion because it's true. The English noun "woman" doesn't just mean this. It has more than one meaning. It can also refer to a non-biological gender. — Michael
Then how does one determine which psychological attributes are male or female if they occur across the sexes? Is there some study that shows the ratio in which these attributes occur with the presence of the sex parts like chromosomes and genitalia?But this isn't some absolute distinction such that every biological male has one type of psychology and every biological female has the other type of psychology. There are people who fall in between, and there are biological males who share the type of psychology typical of biological females and biological females who share the type of psychology typical of biological males. — Michael
What behaviors are specific to a sex? Wanting to wear a dress and high heels is specific to a certain culture. The way women are expected to dress can vary across cultures, so would not be something based in biology and sex.I've come to the same conclusion. Being trans does not change a person into the opposite sex. It's just a person behaving as if they're the opposite sex. — frank
The delusion is that there is more to being a woman than having XX Chromosomes, ovaries and vagina, or that having XX Chromosomes, ovaries and vagina does not make one a woman (but then why would they be attempting to get artificial ones?). This is what I have been trying to get you to show for several pages now and you keep avoiding the question. What more is there to being a woman than having XX Chromosomes, ovaries and vagina that isn't some sexist trope? If it is a feeling, then what is the feeling? What does it feel like for you to be a man or woman? You can't even speak for yourself as to what you mean.As has been explained many times before, the biological man who identifies as a woman doesn’t identify as having XX chromosomes, ovaries, or a vagina, so it's not clear what delusion you believe she has. — Michael
Why are we even talking about sex genitalia in a thread about gender? Again, why should it matter what sex parts one has (and to even call artificial sex parts, "sex parts" is questionable) if gender is a feeling and/or social construct?If so, then it stands to reason that any biological man with a female phenotype – even if artificial – ought use the women's changing room and any biological woman with a male phenotype – even if artificial – ought use the men's changing room. — Michael
Still talking about differences in sexes....There are sex differences in psychology. These differences are what drive the development of gender expression and gender roles in society – expressions and roles which have absolutely nothing to do with karyotype and very little to do with phenotype. — Michael
A solution would be to define what it means to be "true".And the definition is problematic because it unnecessarily combines the act of knowing with information being true. — Jack2848
— Michael
Or just disperse with the notion that women should wear dresses and men should wear pants. If we did that then wearing a dress or pants would not be a form of gender expression. Many women wear pants already and still consider themselves women, so what exactly are trans-people saying when they wear a dress and high heels and claim that is a form of gender expression? Men wear earrings and have long hair and do not consider themselves women.The issues become much clearer and easier to settle in one’s mind when one abandons the concept of gender entirely, or at least relegate it to a grammatical concept, a relic of language, rather than a statement about biology. It ends the cognitive dissonance required to support and think about these ideas clearly. — NOS4A2
Which is to say that bathrooms should be genderless. I can get behind this as this is a solution that does not affirm one's delusions that one is a man or woman when they are not.I don’t think bathrooms should be divided by gender. I think bathrooms should be unisex. — Michael
What would one's bottom have to do with where you can change clothes? Whose the one concerned about genitalia now?Call it whatever you like. A random stranger in the same room isn’t going to be able to tell the difference between a natural and an artificial set of genitals.
A trans man who has had bottom surgery ought use the men’s changing room and a trans woman who has had bottom surgery ought use the women’s changing room.
Their chromosomes and the genitals they were born with are irrelevant. — Michael
And invoking the term, "psychological" just reinforces my assertion that we are dealing with a delusional disorder. You are ignoring all the problems I posed by defining gender as a social construct. You continue to be intellectually dishonest. I have responded to each and every point you have made in your posts yet you cannot show the same respect.Try reading it again. You’ll see that the word “psychological” was listed. — Michael
For a word to have ambiguous meanings means that it has no meaning, and that you end up talking past each other.No I wasn’t. Many words have ambiguous meanings. Many words have multiple meanings. I’m not the one asking for some singular definition of “male gender”, just as I’m not the one claiming that there’s some singular definition of “male sex”. Language and biology and psychology and society and culture are not that simple. The world is a complex place, and is precisely why any essentialist approach to the issue is doomed to fail. — Michael
Sure, when someone uses words in a way that is contradictory people will have a difficult time understanding them.I only suggested that we not use the words "man" and "woman" because you are having so much trouble understanding what they mean when discussing gender. Presumably we both have a clear understanding of what "bathroom" and "penis" and "vagina" mean. — Michael
Yet you assert that a trans-woman has a vagina when what they actually have is an open wound that they have to use medical grade stents to keep open. Any misunderstanding I have is a result of your inability to define the terms you are using in a meaningful way.If there's full frontal public nudity then I don't think it matters whether your genitals are natural or artificial, and so a trans man with a penis should use the men's changing room and a trans woman with breasts and a vagina should use the women's changing room. — Michael
No wonder I couldn't find what I was looking for. I was asking about their feeling of what it means to be a man or woman. You're now talking about cultural norms which are the antithesis of personal feelings. This is exactly what I was trying to avoid in talking past each other. Can a woman still be a woman if they don't adopt the cultural expectations of the culture they are in?Gender is the range of social, psychological, cultural, and behavioral aspects of being a man (or boy), woman (or girl), or third gender." — Michael
I do, but you were the one asserting that words have an unambiguous meaning, contradicting yourself again.Presumably we both have a clear understanding of what "bathroom" and "penis" and "vagina" mean. — Michael
It doesn't explain what they mean when using the terms man and woman, which is why you cant point to it in the links you provided.Start on line 1, finish on whatever line is last. — Michael
Really? Define essentialism then. And what are psychologists and sociologists if words don't have an unambiguous meaning? What are you actually talking ABOUT?Essentialism is a dead-end philosophy. — Michael
You're the one that has now called into question the meaning of words. What are bathrooms, sex, gender, male, female, woman, man, etc? It seems that we would need to define these things to even hope to answer these other questions.So let's not use the words "man", "woman", "male", or "female" at all, and ask a single question:
Should bathrooms be divided by biological sex, by something else, or by nothing at all? — Michael
I'm talking about the actual perverts, whether they be trans or not, entering women's bathrooms.I've already addressed this. Trans-inclusive bathroom policies do not put cisgender women at a greater risk of rape. Trans women are not just perverts and rapists pretending to be women so that they can more easily sexually assault biological women. — Michael
You're still avoiding the question as to what anyone means when using these terms. Just because something has been done for thousands of years doesn't mean it has any basis in reality.It's not co-opting terms. Transgender (and third gender) people have existed and have been talked about for thousands of years. — Michael
Yet I've seen women go to the mens bathroom because the line to the women's bathroom was to long and men go into the womans bathroom to assist their elderly mother and no one said a thing.Most of the abuse they receive is “Get out! You’re not allowed to use this bathroom you pervert!” (even though they’re not perverts and are allowed to use that bathroom), so unisex bathrooms would solve the problem entirely. — Michael
Then what are they actually saying?
— Harry Hindu
That their gender is male. — Michael
These are four different things:
1. Male sex
2. Male gender
3. Female sex
4. Female gender — Michael
It is a 'thought experiment' intended to impart the idea that the concept of time is inextricably linked to the subjective system of the relevant beings. Of course mountains don't perceive time or anything else for that matter. (I can see why you refer to that 'flicker fusion' idea.) — Wayfarer
But wait, I thought trans-people aren't talking about their biology. :roll: contradiction after contradiction after contradiction. It's contradictions all the way down.If there's full frontal public nudity then I don't think it matters whether your genitals are natural or artificial, and so a trans man with a penis should use the men's changing room and a trans woman with breasts and a vagina should use the women's changing room. — Michael
And you don't see the problem with the first thing you said and the bullet points you showed? If bathrooms are unisex then "cis-people" can use any bathrooms they want as well as any gender which would place trans-people in the same spaces with the same people that you claim they would be in danger.I don’t think bathrooms should be divided by gender. I think bathrooms should be unisex.
But those who are argue that bathrooms should be divided by gender argue for one or more of the following:
1. Trans men are uncomfortable using the women’s bathroom and trans women are uncomfortable using the men’s bathroom
2. Trans men face greater risk of abuse using the women’s bathroom and trans women face greater risk of abuse using the men’s bathroom
3. Cis men do not face greater risk of abuse when trans men use the men’s bathroom and cis women do not face greater risk of abuse when trans women use the women’s bathroom. — Michael
The way a trans-person feels is not a man or a woman. What does it feel like to be a man or a woman? We all have feelings. Which ones are the woman and man feelings? It appears you are conflating certain feelings that have nothing to do with sex with sex, which would be sexist.The disagreement stems over whether or not "women" always means "biological women". The claim being made is that there is a distinction between sex and gender, that the terms "man" and "woman" are also used to classify gender, and that people can be women in the sense of sex but men in the sense of gender. — Michael
Then what are they actually saying?When they say “I am a man” they are not saying anything about their biology. — Michael
How do we know how much we don't know?It’s interesting to consider how much we don’t know, while seeming to know a lot. Indeed what we do know is tiny compared to what we don’t. But it’s easy to remain blind to what we don’t know and just accept what we do know as what there is, or even all there is. — Punshhh
Sounds overly complicated, like you're performing mental gymnastics here.But since then I have realized that both bearing and orientation can apply independently to gender as well as to sex, so in addition to the three things at the end of last paragraph, there’s three social parallels of them: your gender, your gender bearing (how you feel about how society categorizes you, are you comfortable with it or do you wish it was different and if so how), and your gender orientation (what gender you find attractive in others). — Pfhorrest
1. Gender and sex are distinct
2. Bathrooms ought be separated by sex, not gender
— Michael
Exactly. 1 and 2 establish that it would be off-topic to discuss bathrooms in a discussion about gender. You're making my argument for me. — Harry Hindu
You're failing to provide reasoning as to why bathrooms should be divided by gender when they have been divided by sex AND sex and gender are distinct. Why would you even think that bathrooms should be divided by gender if sex and gender are distinct concepts? It's no different than asserting that bathrooms should be divided by species. Sex and species are distinct concepts, as are sex and eating ice cream, sex and astronauts, etc. Sex is distinct from a great many things, (bathrooms could just as easily be divided by those that are eating ice cream and those that aren't or by those that are astronauts and those that aren't), so why would you think bathrooms should be divided by gender rather than the great many other things sex is distinct from? What is the relationship between sex and gender that is different than the relationship between sex and being an astronaut? What is the relationship between sex and gender?No, because many disagree with (2). They will claim that bathrooms ought be separated by gender, not sex. — Michael
You didn't because you keep asserting that gender and sex are distinct but make statements like this where you are grouping sex and gender together.I explained it quite clearly. To say that trans women can't use women's bathrooms because they're not biologically female but that intersex people can use women's bathrooms even though they're not biologically female is special pleading. — Michael
If we're talking about making changes to bathrooms to accommodate certain beings, then the same can be done for animals by creating entrances that enable animals to enter the public restroom more easily. You're avoiding the question as to why you would think of gender when discussing sex if they are both distinct.You are the one claiming that women's bathrooms are not exclusively for biological females. I'm asking how that does not prevent anything from using the public restroom.
— Harry Hindu
The same thing that already prevents them (or doesn’t, in those cases where a stray cat or bird enters a bathroom).
You’re not making any sense. — Michael
This is a point I made 6 years ago. Nice to see you're finally catching up.That is something more people are realizing. It's ok to be a butch woman. It's ok to be a feminine guy. — frank
Exactly. 1 and 2 establish that it would be off-topic to discuss bathrooms in a discussion about gender. You're making my argument for me.It's not off topic. It is perfectly consistent to accept both of these:
1. Gender and sex are distinct
2. Bathrooms ought be separated by sex, not gender — Michael
Again, what does intersex have to do with gender?The problem, however, is that intersex people exist, and so how do we maintain (2)? — Michael
This isn't anything like what I am saying. You are the one claiming that women's bathrooms are not exclusively for biological females. I'm asking how that does not prevent anything from using the public restroom. You seem fine with stopping with trans-people, but why if sex and gender are separate? I pointed this out already but you would rather play the intellectual dishonesty game.Jesus, this is a absurd.
You sound like Mike Johnson: — Michael
Those roles are sexist, gender-based stereotypes. Is that not clear to you?Trans activists wanted to say that gender is about roles people play in society. A biological male can dress and behave in a typically feminine way. Therefore, people can transition if they want to.
Is that not clear to you? — frank
What I'm saying is that if gender and sex are not the same thing, the discussing intersex is off-topic.I'm addressing the relevant issue.
You say that an intersex person can use whichever bathroom they are most comfortable using. Why not allow a non-intersex person to use whichever bathroom they are most comfortable using? — Michael
How are they not the same thing? What is the relationship between the two?I think the point trans activists were making was that gender and biological sex are not necessarily the same the thing. There's no reason we couldn't separate them. — frank
You're not answering my question. Why do you group trans-people with people defined by their sex if sex and gender are separate things? You are making a category mistake.Why?
Why not: the men's bathroom is exclusively for any biological man who identifies as a man, biological woman who identifies as a man, or intersex person who identifies as man and the women's bathroom is exclusively for any biological woman who identifies as a woman, biological man who identifies as a woman, or intersex person who identifies as a woman? — Michael
I'm playing along with your assertion that sex and gender are separate and showing your inconsistency in constantly going on about sex in a thread about gender.I thought you disagreed with this view? — Michael
The men's bathroom is exclusively for men and intersex people. Women's bathrooms are for women and intersex people. I'm not sure how trans-people, which have nothing to do with sex, fits in here. — Harry Hindu
Because sex and gender are separate. So you're comparing apples and oranges, right?So why is it acceptable for intersex people to use whichever bathroom they want but not trans people? In allowing intersex people in men's bathrooms and intersex people in women's bathrooms you've already accepted that men's bathrooms are not exclusively for biological males and women's bathrooms not exclusively for biological females. — Michael
Right, but if sex and gender are separate, then why isn't your rebuttal that we are off-topic rather than assume the premise that sex and gender are the same which is where the bathroom, sports and prisons issues are rooted?Yes, because people like you are claiming that only biological men should use the men's bathrooms and only biological women should use the women's bathrooms. You are the one saying that bathrooms should be divided by biological sex, so I want to know what you think we should about people who are biologically intersex. — Michael
There is a critical distinction here.Yes, if by "human" you mean "homo sapiens".
Homo sapiens evolved from homo antecessor, but there was never some single generation where someone who was unambiguously homo antecessor gave birth to someone who was unambiguously homo sapiens.
It was a gradual development from one to the other, with generations of ambiguity in between. — Michael
The point is that it isn't an counterexample if we go by the definition that being anything means having a majority of the traits for that thing.Just one counterexample is sufficient to disprove your claim that every single human without exception is either (unambiguously) biologically male or (unambiguously) biologically female. — Michael
You are inconsistent, so I'll repeat myself:Malcolm Parry and AmadeusD are claiming that every single human without exception is either (unambiguously) biologically male or (unambiguously) biologically female.
My question to them (and to which you respond) was an attempt to have them try to understand that human biology is not so black and white. — Michael
It's nice to see we agree.I'm responding to frank's claim that someone is biologically male if and only if they (only) have an XY karyotype and biologically female if and only if they (only) have an XX karyotype.
He's the one trying to define "biologically male" and "biologically female" according to a singular trait, not me. — Michael
But then why are people born with less than 10 fingers on a hand, or born without legs still considered human? Isn't being human more than just having 10 fingers on a hand and two legs? Aren't there multiple traits that make one a human, and not just one? Wouldn't this mean that if you have a majority of those traits you're considered a human? Why would that not be the same for sex? You don't necessarily need all the traits (even though a vast majority do have all the traits). You just need a majority of the traits.Because there are people who do not fit within this binary classification.
Therefore either a) these people are neither biologically male nor biologically female or b) your attempt at defining what it means to be a biological male or a biological female is wrong. — Michael
Wrong.You say this like you have not been doing the same thing this whole argument. You have been cherry-picking sources, just as you have been claiming the same views as various experts on the subject, despite the issue still being unresolved. Cherry-picking sources is fine, that's how evidence works, but why is it ok for you to do but not others? — Wolfy48
Wrong.Yes, but does this not also refute your own point? The current scientific and psychological community very much disagrees on the subject of what defines gender, so quoting what some scientists say, or taking an expert's word at law to try and prove that Sex == Gender, or that Male == Violent, is Appeal to Authority. — Wolfy48
Wrong again.The dictionary definition of woman has no mention of a vagina or female sexual reproductive organs. So no, having a vagina does not make you a woman. Choosing to comport and express yourself as a woman is what makes you a woman. You could argue that Sex Assigned At Birth is what makes you a woman, but a large amount of people would disagree with you on that, so why hold so tightly to opinion that does nothing but offend, hurt, and de-validate others? There is no scientific proof as to how you have to interpret the word "woman", so it is a matter of opinion. — Wolfy48
Woman: 1 a: an adult female person
Female: 1 a: of, relating to, or being the sex that typically has the capacity to bear young or produce eggs — Merriam-Webster.com
Wrong.So, which is it? Is gender a feeling or a social construct?" -- ↪Harry Hindu
It's both. The idea of what a gender should act or look like is based on how society sees that gender. But the actual decision of which gender the individual wishes to express themselves as is up to them. — Wolfy48