https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Mon, 13 Jul 2026 18:39:07 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-gender-a-social-construct#post-206523 Fri, 29 Jun 2012 12:04:04 +0000 mrbee 206523@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@highwire: No need to apologize every time a laser or a blade gets near a penis. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-gender-a-social-construct#post-206516 Fri, 29 Jun 2012 12:01:07 +0000 ladyfingers 206516@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@highwire: Yeah you can bet I will be asking them how exactly the hospital performs their circumcisions. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-gender-a-social-construct#post-206514 Fri, 29 Jun 2012 12:00:33 +0000 ladyfingers 206514@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mrbee: I know, it was really sad. The book was talking about how his brother was really messed up, and had drug problems, and the parents were fighting all the time, and everything was just so messed up, but then they came clean and it seems like everybody did well for a while. But the brother still had issues -- part of the "therapy" to make the sex changed twin be more female, or whatever, were these regular visits to the original doctor's office in Bethesda, and he would have the two SIBLINGS simulate sex with clothes on, and different positions. Like, 12-year-old kids. So the brother went back to drugs and OD'ed, and then the sex changed twin was laid off and his wife left him, so he killed himself :(</p> <p>(ETA: The brother went back to drugs after a period of time, like, after the book came out. Not after the therapy sessions.)</p> <p>Here's the Wikipedia entry if anybody's interested. Despite my total bummer of a post, it was probably one of the best books I've ever read. I even read the acknowledgments at the end because I didn't want it to be over. </p> <p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Reimer" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Reimer</a> </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-gender-a-social-construct#post-206511 Fri, 29 Jun 2012 11:59:46 +0000 DillonLion 206511@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@ladyfingers: Yikes! So glad to be Jewish and know that all my potential future son has to worry about is a sharp blade rather than a laser. (again, sorry @mrbee) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-gender-a-social-construct#post-206501 Fri, 29 Jun 2012 11:55:31 +0000 mrbee 206501@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@ladyfingers: Sad to hear that he killed himself. :( </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-gender-a-social-construct#post-206495 Fri, 29 Jun 2012 11:52:48 +0000 ladyfingers 206495@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@highwire: They used a laser and basically fried it off. (Sorry Mr. Bee). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-gender-a-social-construct#post-206494 Fri, 29 Jun 2012 11:52:03 +0000 DillonLion 206494@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@ladyfingers: Good God, how bad was this botched circumcision that they were just like "Eh, let's just make a vag instead". </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-gender-a-social-construct#post-206490 Fri, 29 Jun 2012 11:48:20 +0000 Mrs. Train 206490@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Gender is a societal construct. At least in anthropology and other sciences. Gender is the sexual identity you have based on society. Sex is the inherent biological differences. Some of it is just semantics. Sex refers to things that are male and female. Gender refers to thing that are masculine and feminine. Sex definetly affects gender in society. Men and woman are built differently which leads to how they are viewed. It's more common for women to take on the child care role than men. Well one simple reason for that would be the ability to lactate. With infants, before formula and breast pumps there really wasn't a whole lot of options. So eventually it stays as a societal gender role. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-gender-a-social-construct#post-206414 Fri, 29 Jun 2012 10:53:44 +0000 ladyfingers 206414@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Somewhat, but... I read this book a while back about two twin boys who were circumcised, and the one boy's circumcision was botched so they just made him a girl. Like, seriously, the doctor was like, "Oh no biggie, we'll just make a little vagina and you'll give him hormones and raise him as a girl and nobody will know anything." This was back in the 60s. Well, this little boy had the HARDEST time in life -- he looked like a girl and everybody said he was a girl, but he didn't feel like a girl, he wasn't sexually attracted to boys, he played with boy toys and talked like a boy and walked like a boy and dressed like a boy. So when he was 16, his parents finally told him OK... sorry, you're a boy.</p> <p>He ended up getting a sex change back and marrying a woman and the book ended really nice. But then I read the Wikipedia entry and since the book came out, he killed himself. So, uh... yeah. Anyway, the point is, maybe gender isn't as much of a social construct as we think it is. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-gender-a-social-construct#post-206377 Fri, 29 Jun 2012 10:38:06 +0000 Maysprout 206377@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I think there's some strong biological reasons for the gender tendencies but I think there are a ton of societal expectations too. </p> <p>It's treated as a compliment for little girls to be called tomboys nowadays but for a boy to have traits more often associated with girls is not equally embraced.</p> <p>On the flip side I think men are usually thought of as leaders when they are assertive and take charge at work. Often women with those traits are considered bitchy. </p> <p>So I think those are a couple examples of getting unnecessarily holed in because of gender, but I do agree that gender traits do often stem from the way the two sexes are built. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-gender-a-social-construct#post-205847 Thu, 28 Jun 2012 22:01:55 +0000 Minnie_Girl 205847@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Sex is biological, but society is responsible for the ridiculous gender roles and biases that have been so damaging. People are people, regardless of the male/female hormonal tendencies. I think a lot of folks show the world what is expected instead of what is natural to them. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-gender-a-social-construct#post-205776 Thu, 28 Jun 2012 21:35:27 +0000 Mrsbells 205776@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I think its a combination of both inherent biological stuff and societies creation too. certain things that women do such as generally growing their hair longer than men is a social thing. Hormonal differences tend to make women react differently to certain things than men so I think its both </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-gender-a-social-construct#post-205730 Thu, 28 Jun 2012 21:07:02 +0000 mrbee 205730@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>When I was younger, I believed that gender was more about differences on the outside... that inside, gender was largely a social construct.</p> <p>As I've gotten older, I've seen how gender can also correlate with certain differences in approach to things. I don't think it's causal, but the correlation is striking at times.</p> <p>It took me maybe a decade and a half to shift my perspective, as it was one that I just didn't want to accept. But now I see gender as a biological construct, upon which we layer all sorts of social stuff. But I've come to believe that gender does have more impact on how people think and act than I would like to admit.</p> <p>What do you think: is gender a social construct? A biological one (beyond the obvious, that is)? Something else entirely? </p>