So I need advice about my college class... I am taking Sociology of sex and gender. We have discussion posts and this post is about the social construction of gender. I am pretty sure in trying to be neutral that I messed up. How the flying fudge do i fox this?! Any advice is appreciated!

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[–]BewitchedSam 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

I took psychology of sex and gender not that long ago and my strategy was to let them "educate" me for wrong speak if need be. I don't know the political climate of your university but mine is a very liberal school in one of the most liberal states. I would feign ignorance if I sensed they felt threatened and let them explain things to me. Some topics were easier for me to write more openly and honestly about because other students expressed either opinions closer to mine or were fence sitting (trans women in sports, children transition etc.) I was honestly surprised at how many agreed with me.

Personally I think you came across pretty neutral. So I wouldn't worry too much.

[–][deleted] 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

That's kind of the issue. Now all these people are uwuing in the replies that omg they totally agree with me and support transwomen too and all this. I want to say something to kinda be like uh no good madam/sir that is incorrect.

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

Most people just want to get along, I think. There's also this feeling I get from some friends that trans people are like mystical super humans that we can never understand and we must just go along with anything they believe.

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

Ask questions to stimulate conversation. "What happens when we redefine woman? Who does this help? Who does this hurt? Why do we need to redefine woman to step outside gender roles or norms? Do we have to redefine woman to step escape gender roles? What stereotypes are we enforcing? What effect does that have?" Etc.... try to make them think critically.

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

Wow, whoever the author of that snippet is, he or she is a very sloppy thinker and a poor writer. Maybe just point out some of the glaring errors?

Woman means "adult human female." It's a category of human beings based on sex, not gender.

Woman and female aren't "genders," "gender roles" or "gender identities."

Everyone's definition of gender is different

That may be so, but everyone doesn't get to make up their own definition of sex. The meaning of sex - and of female, girl, woman and women - is already well established, clear, agreed-upon and universally understood.

Society is redefining what it means to be a woman

No, a very small segment of Western society called gender ideologues and queer theorists are trying to define what it means to be a woman. Most of Western society thinks this is hogwash, and misogyny. And the rest of the world would scratch their heads, wondering "WTF?"

The words woman and female already have clear-cut definitions. They are not up for grabs. Gender ideologues want to render these terms meaningless, make it verboten to use them to refer to people who actually are of the female sex, and entitle covetous, rapacious members of the male sex to appropriate these words and claim them as their own coz that's what these men want and as men they must have their way.

But most people would say no, this is balderdash and gibberish. The word woman is taken. Anyone who wants to invent or describe new ways of thinking and being should come up with their own novel terms, not simply insist that longstanding words that already have a meaning now mean something else entirely. That's appropriation, colonization and tyranny.

Or perhaps ask if anyone else thinks that passage sounds a lot like classic Humpty Dumptyism:

*"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less."

"The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things."

"The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master—that's all."* - Lewis Carroll

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

......This is my post on my class discussion board. We were asked to discuss the concept of the social construction of gender, covered in Chapter 5 of our textbook.