Gender isn't real: it's just an idea

Hellfire103@sopuli.xyz to LGBTQ+@lemmy.blahaj.zone – 128 points –
16

Gender may in part be a social construct, but that doesn't make it not real. Social constructs are very real.

Playing basketball is a social construct. No two people play basketball exactly the same, and many people don't even play by the exact socially accepted rules. Despite all these things, we can still use imprecise, incomplete words to usefully communicate groups of shared behaviors and preferences, and even offer nuance about those sets of behaviors and preferences, when the situation calls for it.

That's my very point. Basketball is a social construct, and it's also real. It's subjective, open to change, means different things to different people, but it's still very real.

Just what?

I was going to say "just ask billionaires", but then I'd have had to make it clear I was referring to the social construct of money. And I had a bus to catch, so I just removed it, except for a single word :)

Just

The genders are made up and the points don't matter, but if one mf'er misgenders me, this house of cards collapses.

It's like genres. Helps you find similar music you like, but great songs can't be contained by a category!