GC: If only two "men", only two "women" or someone on their own can create an embryo/baby, then there is no difference between "man" and "woman", "egg" and "sperm", and they are man-made socially constructed categories that don't actually exist. If you disagree, please explain your reasons

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[–][deleted]  (3 children)

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    [–]MarkTwainiac 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

    BTW, 2old, I noticed that throughout your OP you kept speaking of "somatic cells." I hope you know that this terminology is redundant coz "somatic" simply means "relating to or of the body, as opposed to the mind." So similar to "physical" or "bodily." [Edited to add: in biology, particularly cell biology somatic actually has another, additional meaning, as biologyisreal points out in the post below. I stand corrected.]

    In your OP, you also made a claim I found too ridiculous to address and refute, namely

    What I believe given these findings is there is no such a thing as a "man" and a "woman", "sperm" and "egg", and they are man-made socially constructed categories that don't actually exist.

    Now that we've had friendly exchanges and you've said

    I am really not here to debunk the existence of sex, but really just trying to understand about it, and overcome confusion because I tend to get confused easily, and reach a conclusion.

    I'm wondering if you still believe - and if you ever really believed - that

    there is no such a thing as a "man" and a "woman", "sperm" and "egg", and they are man-made socially constructed categories that don't actually exist.

    Finally, since your user name makes an issue of your age, I'm wondering if you wouldn't mind revealing how old exactly you are and at what age you think people become "too old for school."

    In the spirit of fair play, I'll go first: I am 66, and I believe there is no age at which anyone becomes "too old for school." I know lots of people in their 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s who've gone to school - whether it be adult ed courses, grad school or to get their HS or BA/BS degrees. I once did a newspaper story on a woman who was forced out of school in 8th grade when she got pregnant in the 1940s, and who attended HS in the US and got her HS diploma in her late 40s/early 50s. Gladys Mae West, the mathematician whose calculations formed the basis for GPS, earned a PhD in 2018 at age 88.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gladys_West

    [–][deleted]  (1 child)

    [deleted]

      [–]MarkTwainiac 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

      I am so glad you replied!

      Lots of people drop out of school like you did and have done so in the past. I totally get why you and others drop out. When I was in my teens and 20s, a common saying or "meme" was "school is ruining my education."

      Also, in my own adult life I've been subjected to a lot of disdain and prejudice from academics coz I don't have any advanced degrees. Lots of times in my life starting in the 1970s and extending through the early 2000s I was told I wasn't allowed to apply for certain fellowships, awards or library privileges at institutions such as Harvard Radcliffe, the Sorbonne, Sciences Po, the NY Public Library's research divisions coz I don't have a MS/MA or PhD and lack any formal institutional affiliation.

      I also hope you can see the difference between "earning an education" and "earning/getting a degree" and "becoming educated, knowledgable and/or learned."

      There are actually lots of older students in most universities in countries like the US and UK (sorry, I dunno where you are). Sure, some teenage students there might "look at you weird" coz you're in your 30s and they are ageist eejits. As a former teenager myself, someone who has taught teens, and a parent who raised her own children during the teenage of phase of their lives, I am not particularly impressed by, or fearful of, the withering looks and disapproving attitudes of teens. My attitude towards their side-eye is "who gives a fuck?" and "you'll get it one day."

      Fear and anxiety plague and have plagued many people, including me. I've personally had many occasions in my life when I've wanted to hide myself under the bed rather than do things that have scared the shit out of me - ranging from taking academic exams in subjects I was crap at to going through labor and childbirth to getting surgery to remove a tumor behind my eye that had grown into my brain to appearing on TV interview shows in order to promote books/articles I'd written to writing and delivering eulogies for siblings and friends who'd died to taking the stand in court to give sworn testimony about why I thought my ex-husband and I should have joint custody of our children rather than my ex getting sole custody as he sought ...

      What I've learned throughout these experiences is that when we let fear and anxiety control us, we end up hurting ourselves - and sometimes/often the younger or weaker people who depend on us, too. There's an old adage, Feel the fear but do it anyways. Which should not be confused with the wisdom of Gavin de Becker in the essential book, The Gift of Fear.

      Also, most of the people you think/fear will be looking at you weird actually are too preoccupied with their own insecurities and neuroses to pay you, me or anyone else much notice.