I Get Where You’re Coming From, But–

I get where you’re coming from, but–

As a biologist– no, you don’t! I think that’s a pretty common misunderstanding of how “reality” works. We’re humans–we’re built to categorize and generalize and simplify and this helps us function efficiently, make predictions, and communicate about abstract concepts or experiences.

But the world itself pretty much never falls into clean-edged categories because that’s not how things evolve. That’s not how natural, complex, multi-faceted processes *happen.* The concept of species is an artificial construct with a basis in biology. (Look up “ring species” for an awesome example!) The concept of “genes” is an artificial construct with a basis in biology that helps us talk about concepts. (Have you ever seen a scientist try to create an inclusive, concrete definition for what a “gene” is? It’s hilarious.)

Heck, the concept of *colors* is an artificial construct with a basis in biology. What’s red? What’s not red? When does red start being purple? How does pink fit into the picture?

I totally get why saying “let’s just not worry about the reality of gender and let everybody do what they want” is appealing! It appeals to me. I think it would work really well for a lot of people.

But the *issue* with saying that gender is 100% socially constructed is that it harmfully erases the experiences of trans people that experience non-social dysphoria (such as body dysphoria). I have straight up seen trans people shouted down about their own lived experiences and trauma over this; it’s not cool.

To be clear, I am using “gender” to describe the internal sense of “what I am” as distinct from “gender ROLES” (socially constructed) and “sex” (also kind of fuzzy-edged, but more related to chromosomes and phenotype).

Saying “gender is 100% socially constructed” also erases the experiences of non-trans people who have a strong internal instinct of “I am this”, although at least in those it is less likely to cause harm so much as to just clash hard with their ability to accept your logic.

One reason we know gender is not entirely socially constructed is that people raised as the “wrong” gender are statistically very likely to have a lot of psychological issues, even if they don’t know they are being raised “wrong.” (An example: x)

Another reason we know that gender is not entirely socially constructed is that most animal species we study exhibit a “sense of what sex they are” that is DISTINCT from their “sex” and can be manipulated genetically, chemically, and environmentally. The more complex these systems get, the more room you have for lots of variation, creating a whole spectrum of ways for both gender and sex to manifest and interrelate.

And humans are even more complex, because we have the ability to think consciously about our sense of self and our sense of other people’s selves! But there is definitely a root for all of these (and even why so many people feel so very STRONGLY about this topic) somewhere, partially, in our biology.

Doesn’t mean we don’t have a shit-ton of work to do educating people and creating a better, more inclusive society.