So it appears there are people on twitter who think biology is a white colonial notion imposed upon the rest of the world to make us believe in the "European" notion of male and female. We were all stupid and ignorant before whitey came along. A thread.

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[–]MarkTwainiac 48 insightful - 3 fun48 insightful - 2 fun49 insightful - 3 fun -  (6 children)

The racism and myopia of those who make this claim never ceases to amaze me. They are saying that over the course of tens of thousands of years of human evolution and development, none of the myriad diverse peoples on planet earth ever once noticed a difference between male and female in any plant or animal species - and none of them had the slightest clue about how reproduction works.

Also, don't the people who make these racist, Eurocentric claims realize that all of the world's religions - both the traditional indigenous ones that have been wiped out over time, as well as the ones that remain extant and dominant today - center biology and reproduction, and emphasize the differences between males and females? The creation myths of pretty much every culture known to have ever existed highlight the importance of sex and sex differences.

Do these numpties who bang on today about "European colonialists" introducing the notion of sex to the rest of the world really think that Hinduism, Jainism, Shintoism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam etc all somehow originated in Europe? Do they not realize that these religions - and the beliefs of tons of other ancient civilizations - all predated the era of European colonization by many centuries - in most cases, by thousands of years?

[–]_another_voice 21 insightful - 1 fun21 insightful - 0 fun22 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

They ignore the domestication of animals which happened globally more than 10,000 years ago. It's absurd.

[–]MarkTwainiac 19 insightful - 1 fun19 insightful - 0 fun20 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Yes, they do. But they also ignore that prior to the the dawn of agriculture, and the domestication of animals that followed, people of both sexes in gatherer/trapper/fisher/hunter societies had to be incredibly clued in to, and well versed about, the intricacies of plants, insects, birds, fish, amphibians & all the myriad various land-dwelling animals in order to eat & survive.

Though the stereotyped "hunter/gatherer societies" that used to be taught about in schools gave the impression that game meat from fairly large animals was the main source of protein prior to animal domestication, in fact most protein came from catching and eating insects, small animals & fish - and from stealing eggs from birds - as well as from nuts. This required people to be extremely observant & cognizant of all the behaviors of various species - including their mating, procreating and nesting habits, as well as how various species cared for their young.

My hunch is, long before the era of European colonization, most people all around the earth knew a whole lot more about biology and how species reproduced than the typical Spanish Conquistadors, French colonists, Dutch merchant seamen, Puritans etc from Europe who started colonizing the Americas and parts of Asia and Africa from the late 15th century on.

Also, contrary to the view of those who say the whole world was in the dark about biology & most everything else until whitey from Europe showed up, the fact is there are huge swathes of planet earth that Europeans never colonized - or colonized relatively recently in history (French in "Indochina" for example). Indeed, in many places - such as China and Japan - outsiders were prevented from visiting in large numbers - or at all - for considerable periods of those nations' history. Yet over the course of thousands of years when they weren't be being bullied & bossed around by white Europeans, the Chinese and Japanese somehow managed to procreate and feed themselves. What's more, the Chinese always knew which kind of human to kill at birth, or to subject to foot-binding & concubinage, or to make into beasts of burden in the fields. Similarly, the Japanese knew which kind of human could be warriors, and which ones geishas and domestic servants.

[–]Shesstealthy 5 insightful - 3 fun5 insightful - 2 fun6 insightful - 3 fun -  (3 children)

They also forget that there were people around before the middle ages, in countries outside Europe, who had empires and medicine and engineering skills and stuff. Look at the black Pharaohs.

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

Mesopotamia, Harappa.

[–]MarkTwainiac 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

One of my earliest memories growing up in the early 1960s was being told by my mother that the place in my body (and all female bodies) where the legs came together - meaning the groin/vulva - is "where the Tigris meets the Euphrates, the cradle of civilization."

[–]RedditHatesLesbians 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

That's actually very beautiful

[–]Finnegan7921 42 insightful - 1 fun42 insightful - 0 fun43 insightful - 1 fun -  (8 children)

This sort of thing is what happens when you allow people who think crazy shit to carry it to the furthest logical conclusion without challenging them. Once the term "European colonial construct" became accepted as a reason for things that groups of people disagree with, it was free to use for everything. Math is racist now, biology is racist, proper grammar, the nuclear family, etc etc. All of this shit went unchallenged in society's desire to conform to the woke brigade's wishes. People are starting to push back. I wonder how long that thread will stay up. There's probably some TRA's who lurk here just to see GC stuff that gets posted on twitter so they can report it to those spineless cowards who quake in fear at the thought of being considered bigioted b/c "gasp" they believe in science. Actual science, not made up feelz science.

[–]gchelpbot 29 insightful - 1 fun29 insightful - 0 fun30 insightful - 1 fun -  (5 children)

Not "hard disagreeing" but I feel there is a huge part of a lot of these people seeing like the first chapter on critiques/history of scientific institutions, their structures, focus and framing, and how racist and sexist parts of it can come up and then just run with the absolute worse way of going about it.

The "biology is sexist" is part maddening because it is missing the key "the research of/in biology" before the is sexist part which is key. I.E in the field of medicine a lot of medicine even to this day pretty much just treats women as "men who weigh less" and this has even been seen for medicine that is MEANT for women. The cold hard biology isn't sexist, the biological institutions that create gaps in knowledge and medicine is sexist.

The actual topics of discussions for a lot of these points is very deep and murky but a ton of these people take the surface layer of it, summarize it in an awful way and summarize it with terrible shit takes. Science as a concept isn't sexist, the history of science for sure has various sexist parts that effect to this day, those are VERY different things.

[–]jet199 16 insightful - 2 fun16 insightful - 1 fun17 insightful - 2 fun -  (3 children)

I actually think it's quite a common feeling/instinct in young women, most of whom haven't even read the first chapter, which then latches itself to the POMO critical theory/social construct stuff. I saw a few women on the old GC sub saying we shouldn't be saying that women are weaker than men because it makes women feel bad and that they can't achieve as much which then leads to worse outcomes. They really think that to have true equality we all need to believe a woman could beat Usain Bolt at the 200 meters.

[–]eddyelric 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Maybe those young ladies should read Difference and Dominance:On Sex Discrimination by Catharine A. MacKinnon

[–]MonstrousRegiment 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

This is a stunningly good read! Too good to summarize (and anyway I'm not finished yet) but I had to drop this quote:

Men's physiology defines most sports, their health needs define insurance coverage, their socially designed biographies define workplace expectations and successful career patterns, their perspectives and concerns define quality in scholarship, their experiences and obsessions define merit, their military service defines citizenship, their presence defines family, their inability to get along with each other their wars and rulerships--defines history, their image defines god, and their genitals define sex. For each of their differences from women, what amounts to an affirmative action plan is in effect, otherwise known as the structure and values of American society.

[–]WildApples 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

There are obviously real biological differences between men and woman, but to be fair, we do not really know all the athletic feats women are capable of because for centuries most women were conditioned to be weak and non-athletic. The study comparing the strength of everyday prehistoric women to contemporary female rowers suggests that even the most athletic, modern woman is not the full realization of the potential for female strength.

[–]MonstrousRegiment 9 insightful - 1 fun9 insightful - 0 fun10 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

The cold hard biology isn't sexist, the biological institutions that create gaps in knowledge and medicine is sexist.

Beautifully put!

[–][deleted] 12 insightful - 1 fun12 insightful - 0 fun13 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

This is just the woke version of 'black people are too dumb to do math and science'. Do they not realise how racist they are?????

[–]jelliknight 8 insightful - 1 fun8 insightful - 0 fun9 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Don't forget "indigenous people never worked out where babies come from"

[–]shveya 26 insightful - 7 fun26 insightful - 6 fun27 insightful - 7 fun -  (0 children)

The women on lipstick alley were talking about this notion a little while ago. They were like, “I guess we were all just ignorant savages who didn’t know where babies came from until Europeans came along”. (I’m paraphrasing)

[–]Complicated-Spirit 15 insightful - 1 fun15 insightful - 0 fun16 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

This is revisionism, and it’s dangerous, not only in that it’s denying reality on a biological level, but also participates in the idealization/fetishization of non-white cultures just as it it demonizes colonialism as being responsible for the concept of male and female (seriously, wtf).

As such, not only is it painting a picture that never really was, but it’s also denying the existence of sex-based oppression in non-white societies, instead preferring an invented, ahistorical narrative in which everything was perfect until white people showed up. When the element of white/colonial/European/Christian/etc. influence is removed, it follows, then those cultures can be all happy and peaceful and wonderful again.

It’s the same reasoning that can make someone look at a traditionalist Catholic woman in a church with a head covering and sneer at how patriarchy rules her, while at the same time cheer on a Muslim woman in a hijab for “empowering” herself with it. Since “gender-based” violence is so utterly entrenched in whiteness and Westernhood, if the Muslim woman is oppressed at all, it’s due to vestigial traces of Euro-centric influence in her life. The women and girls who actually live under these non-white societal structures that treat women so harshly need only be patted on the head, while their woke “allies” explain to them, like one would to a child, that it’s not their men’s fault, it’s the fault of men on the other side of the world. And if they get too loud in their protestations, then they need to be silenced.

[–]BEB 11 insightful - 1 fun11 insightful - 0 fun12 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

If I remember correctly, the NEW YORK TIMES had an op ed along these same lines.

Not a surprise given the New York Times puts out about an article a day trying to gaslight its readers into believing that men can be women just by saying they are.

But the New York Times lost its credibility a long time ago during the run up to Iraq War II; anyone else remember "Aluminum Tubes"?

[–][deleted] 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

So did the times and I think some other bullshit woke papers. The ones writing them are almost always white trans women who grew up in predominantly white suburbs and never left their country. It’s basically rich white mem rewriting POC history AGAIN but now we can all pretend they are “woke” or some bullshit.

[–]TurtleFuzz 10 insightful - 1 fun10 insightful - 0 fun11 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

This is an amazing thread, thanks for sharing! If I was on twitter I would go like all this woman's tweets haha

[–]Shesstealthy 9 insightful - 1 fun9 insightful - 0 fun10 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

You know what binary Whitey did impose? Mind-body. Cartesian dualism.

All of this mind vs meat sack stuff stems from that.

[–]Complicated-Spirit 7 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 0 fun8 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I think India could be argued to be an exception to this, though. Krishna told Arjuna that just as men change their clothes, so do they change their bodies, as they drift from life to life. Of course, he didn’t say how women’s souls transmigrate, so I guess that’s still up in the air.

[–]PassionateIntensity 8 insightful - 1 fun8 insightful - 0 fun9 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Not just rando "people"... the ACLU.

[–]Shinjin_Nana 6 insightful - 5 fun6 insightful - 4 fun7 insightful - 5 fun -  (0 children)

"This is pre colombian Mexican figurine. If you look closely you will see a penis."

  • image of figurine with GIANT penis.

ME: spittakes XD XD

[–]Maeven 8 insightful - 1 fun8 insightful - 0 fun9 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

This is the most offensive "accidentally racist" theory I know.

[–]moody_ape 6 insightful - 2 fun6 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

i love a twitter thread hahahah thank you so much for this! it is brilliant!

[–]GConly 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

That's a great thread.

[–]unUSEFULidiot 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

How do you overlook Ishtar tho?

Ishtar should be #1

Inanna is an ancient Mesopotamian goddess associated with love, beauty, sex, war, justice, and political power. She was originally worshiped in Sumer and was later worshipped by the Akkadians, Babylonians, and Assyrians under the name Ishtar.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inanna?wprov=sfla1

[–]BrokenEarth 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

The notion behind this is it accuses the other side of being the real "white men" or having been brainwashed into while male thinking. Since they position their argument to be against colonization and white supremacy, they feel that alone justifies their argument.

[–]luckystar 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

This shit absolutely infuriates me. Literally Confucian thought preceded ALL of this by hundreds or even thousands of years and had a much stricter gender binary as one of its core tenets and still strongly influences the culture of a large portion of the world (China, Japan, both Koreas, Vietnam, Taiwan) to this day. But of course these clowns are all white college kids who literally have zero non white friends.

A few indigenous societies having a word for effeminate men that basically means "sissy" or "f*ggot" is not the same thing as being woque 64 genders non binary folxxx. It smacks very strongly of the "noble savage" racist attitude.

The best analogy I can make for these people is writing. Writing was "invented" independently in 5 major civilizations around the world at different times. Most indigenous North American people did not have a writing system. Does that mean white people fucking invented writing and writing is a Europe exclusive oppressive tool of colonialism? Only if you're so racist and narrow minded you never bother to learn about any major world civilization besides your own.