“gender is a social construct” ideology gains widespread acceptance in western societies,
this doesn't make sense. Gender IS a construct. That isn't up for dispute. Like girls like flowers and horses and are weak. While men are strong and tough and don't cry etc. Those are aspects of gender that have little to nothing to do with biology. So saying if it gains acceptance is dumb. Because it isn't even disputed. That is what the word gender means.
So, “dude looks like a lady”— actually MAKES that person a woman?
i'm not even sure what your point is. Gender is decided by society. So if we as a society say anyone with nipples is a woman, then we're all women. If we say anyone who looks feminine is a woman, then yeah. Gender is a construct and it is fluid. It changes over time and by culture.
Ah, yes, the old “use the exception to disprove the rule” gambit. How many arms and legs do humans have? Two of each? Well, there are babies born with one arm or one leg. Do they then cease to be human?
of course not, they prove that not all humans have 2 legs. So if you were to argue that all humans have 2 legs, you would be wrong. Just like anyone who says there are only 2 sexes is wrong.
Also, some studies have shown that as many as 1 in 60 people are intersex, IE not entirely male or female. That isn't "the exception", that is a measurable portion of the population. enough they could swing an election.
From Wikipedia:
“The term
gender had been associated with grammar for most of history and only started to move towards it being a malleable cultural construct in the 1950s and 1960s.
[24]”
My apologies, I think I phrased my point badly. Societies have always had gender and sex. They often chose not to differentiate between the two. But you can see the difference was always there as the gender changed over time, but the sex didn't. For example look at how greek men were expected to behave in classical greece vs later periods. They were biologically the same, but what a real "man" was had changed drastically. Not alot of naked man on man wrestling these days.
I perceive three sexes: male, female, and intersex. However, intersex is a rarity, an aberration, akin to being born with one arm.
red hair is also an aberration. that doesn't make it any less valid.
Again, what I am saying is that claiming that gender and sex are completely distinct is an opinion, a school of thought, not necessarily a fact as you declare without doubt.
that is silly. If sex and gender were the same then you would still have the same gender traits as your ancestors. I don't know your ancestry, but if you were greek you'd be wrestling other men naked alot more than you probably do. Gender identities have changed drastically over time and in different places. Sex has not.
There is another school of thought: that gender and sex are synonymous, if not EXACTLY the same, exact thing.
That's stupid. If they were the same thing, then we would just need an entirely new word to describe gender. Why would you make the 2 mean the same thing and just make a new word?