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if you were to ask me what makes me a woman, or what makes me a man, how can i truthfully answer more than the mere physical differences?
my belief is that are virtually no major distinctions between a male and a female other than the physical differences we are born with, and that all traits we believe are possessed by one sex or the other are societal teachings, not something youre innately born with.
i think one of my prime pieces of evidence for this is the world wide web, where the need and presence for our physical bodies is almost completely removed for human connection and interaction.
thus, the labels of male and female become fluid or almost entirely meaningless, because what you talk about, blog about, think about, or read, see, and hear isnt influenced by your sex at all.
(not accounting for social media algorithms which may use your inputted gender to reinforce what they believe a male or female should be interacting with online)
on the world wide web, you do not have to choose to be a male, female, or anything at all, and instead opt for an existence as some form of human interactor, something unbound by a male or female body.
writing this, i have also come to realize why the internet has become such a refuge and escape for transgender communities in particular. gender identity and its physical limitations in the real world have no reach in a realm where there is no physical presence required.
i should mention that, while the internet doesnt mandate the need for a body, thats not to say it doesnt allow for it. there are still voice messages, videos and selfies whos creators cannot be so easily freed from the tags of male and female.
this is also not to say that proclaiming yourself to be a male, female, or any gender is wrong in any way. in fact, i could go as far as to say that the liberty to change your orientation within these labels is a freedom you uniquely posses on the internet, and that which can be exercised to your indulgence at will.
it is simply to say that such labels as male and female have no actual meaning towards identity in a realm where identity does not rely on a physical body.
signed, 1nt3rn3t_l0s3r
loser online, loser offline
Comments
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kiasoulcrusher
i completely agree with this. i dont like to think to hard about this topic though mainly because it sends me into a spiral my entire bases for being trans relies on the existing male and female binaries (that you have so astutely pointed out are meaningless and baseless and are a social construct) so when i think "gender is a social construct i am merely reacting to the pressurs and opinons and gendered standards created by society" then i think "if gender isnt real then my feelings arent real and all this work im putting into transitioning and the emotionaly energy i have spent trying to wrangle and name my feelings is all meaningless" and then things just go downhill from there im actually pretty invested in buddhism and a huge concept is gender is just an attatchments and attatchments are bad because they keep you from reaching enlightenment (im not an expert this is very very dumbed down dont quote me man i just read books and try to be a kind person) so being transgender and a buddhist is actually quite a contriversial topic (even though cis buddhists arent detatching from their gender any better than trans ones are) anyways the point im trying to get at is this is a very nuanced and multifaceted conversation but also a very interesting one sorry for making a blog post in your comment section if your interested in conversing on this topic more id love to im you have a nice day
ty for giving me another viewpoint on this topic. please dont feel sorry for commenting, i rly appreciate it.
i can definitely see where youre coming from. being transgender does imply that you have switched from one gender identity to another, which is contrary to my argument that gender identities themselves are indefinable in reality.
but id like to maybe reiterate (or maybe clarify lol) one of my last points. just because i believe identity relating to sex has no root in reality doesnt mean it has no real effect on somebody.
if you want to be man or woman, in whatever way a man or woman means to you or the society you live in, then I believe it is your liberty to do so. and i also believe that liberty is further granted by the idea that sex doesnt define your identity.
because if sex truly defined your identity, then i argue that transgender people, or any identity that deviates from the gender binary, wouldnt exist. if there was a true separation of behaviors and personalities between the two sexes, then the minds of woman and men would never be curious or care to seek the experience the other sex has.
i think the reality is that gender identity is less like a wall between sexes and more like a pool of water. all the behaviors, personalities, societal roles, they all flow into one another. its all so boundless, that to say that woman and men and different beyond our physical differences is, as i believe it, incorrect.
sry if this seemed long, and maybe even a little unorganized.
by 1nt3rn3t_l0s3r; ; Report
hi! so i actually went to redit about this because i wanted some more info and a good way i found to give some more insight on this topic is money is a social construct and it is still very very real and controls a whole lot of things in our every day lives! also it is so interesting to think about a world that if there were no genders and only sexes would there even be trans people in the first place there would be nothing to transition to or from. also please please check out david reimers case. basically as an infant he went under a sex change opporation and was raised as a girl from advice of a doctor whos whole theory was that gender was nurtured not something youwere inherently born with and the boy without knowing he was born a boy came to his parents and told them at age 14 that he had always felt like a boy (btw trigger warning for basically every horrible thing on the planet before checking this out it is a really sad and messed up story and i urge you to be cautious when going into it but you can find his story on wikipedia) which is actually true for alot of children this sort of thing happens to wether it be intersex children that the parents chose one gender or the other to raise them as upon finding out and sometimes the children felt they were the other gender that may have not been prominent in their physical features but more prominent in their genes or whatever. (i am not well spoken or well read and grammar is my enemy i am so sorry for making this basically impossible to read i hope my awful writing skills dont deter you from the point or information i have disclosed in this comment) anyways yes very interesting topic!
by kiasoulcrusher; ; Report
ive literally been writing for a little under 3 hours about this, and i still cannot shortly entail all my conclusions and questions i have about the reimers case in regards to gender identity.
you really are correct in saying that is a HEAVILY nuanced, complicated, and loooong topic, because omg i just cannot keep coming on to new questions!!!!!
after reading it, writing about it here (and deleting essays worth over and over), and thinking about it for what feels like an eternity. i still feel amazed at how little it feels i can definitively answer about it.
thank u again for commenting and giving me another perspective on this thing.
by 1nt3rn3t_l0s3r; ; Report
malibu!
Eu sempre notei a diferença na maneira que me tratavam ao descobrir que eu sou uma mulher, vinda do Brasil. Especialmente de homens, que se comportavam de uma maneira PÉSSIMA. É assustador o que as pessoas fazem quando anônimas por trás de um username. Mas enfim, estou divagando do assunto. Eu sempre quis poder experienciar um tratamento ambíguo, sabe? Um tratamento que não fosse ditado pelo meu gênero nem pela minha nacionalidade. Algo genuíno, que vem da própria pessoa. Algo que as ideias impostas pela sociedade não conseguiriam alcançar.
StargirlAgatha
Eu realmente concordo! Na internet não há essas distinções, e não deveria haver tanto na vida real, acredito que as únicas distinções entre homens e mulheres existem porque a sociedade acredita nisso, mas as únicas distinções reais são características físicas