this post was submitted on 22 Dec 2023
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Heart's in the right place but can I just break down "biological gender" for a sec? Gender is more or less a Victorian euphemism for "sex". The word's original usage and origins are actually close to "genre" like book genre and in modern usage it works closer to "genre" as it describes an internal sense of affiliation to a cultural or phenotypic category or abstention from category drawn culturally broadly along reproductive groups. It's a fuzzy line that we don't use biology to try and police on purpose. It's more the realm of psychology and wrapped up in questions of what supports a fulfilling life of interpersonal connection.
Gender is a lot of things but if you are talking about sexual characteristics and intersex people it's important to distinguish and highlight that discussions about sex characteristics and gender distinctions are two separate conversations with two mostly unrelated minorites. Very often I see intersex people's existence being used as a conservative gotcha for support of trans folk like myself and... It doesn't work. They know trans and intersex folk aren't the same thing and you are trying to red herring them off of the discussion they really want to have. Also... Intersex issues deserve more individual spotlight where they aren't mashed in with transgender advocacy. They have their own unique battles with beaurcracy, society, mental health and so on. Give em some love sometimes. Talk about how our social concepts of binary sex has medical and social consequences for them. They need the press too.
Severing the old euphemism "gender" completely from the word "sex" so we can better have these discussions is a start. A lot of Conservatives use the two interchangeably to imply that gender doesn't exist, to them it is just a synonym for sex so word combos like "biological gender" is developing into a unique alt right dog whistle with it's own google alt-right web result pit so just wanna give you a heads up on that front.
I’m aware there’s a distinction between gender identity (psychology), gender expression (sociology) and sex (biology). I used the "biological gender" term since the comment I’m answering to did. I could have expressed myself clearer though. I’m just gonna use the fact English isn’t my mother tongue as an excuse here…
Generally my argument is „sex isn‘t binary (and shouldn’t be regarded as such), so why would gender (both identity and expression) be?“
Besides, sex is a spectrum beyond chromosomes. Even two XX or two XY people can have differing physiologies when it comes to hormones, etc. resulting in one appearing more masculine and one more feminine.
It's rough even for English as a first language speakers. The alt-right, conservatives and transphobes in general have these little subtle words they use to signal their transphobia to each other and signal their intent to troll or that their real intentions while pretending to debate in earnest. "Biological gender" is a more frequent one but they get waaaaay more subtle.
One you see in the UK that is SUPER subtle is transwoman or transman. Properly speaking trans is a separate adjective so it modifies the noun. "The woman is trans" in effect. By removing the space in trans woman they sort of signal their intent and allegiance by creating a whole new noun as in : "That's not a woman that's a transwoman" it's so subtle it could just be accidental and leaves plausible deniabillity for the user of the term... but trans folk get used to seeing these little cues that signal that the writer or speaker is getting their talking points from very specific hostile sources. Language has been very weirdly weaponized but when you understand what is happening it can help you figure out the diehard transphobes who are wasting your time and good faith from the people actually just properly duped by the misinformation brokered by those with malicious intent.