The Latent Danger in Divergent ‘Gender’ Definitions
Words have real power and consequence. And I believe that for the transgender community, there is a major terminology collision that needs to be sorted out.
First Construct of Gender: The medical community has generally distinguished between Sex and Gender as follows: (1) Sex is based on multiple biological traits, not just chromosomes, which manifest in sex organs and multiple secondary sex characteristics (predominantly morphological). (2) Gender is based on brain biology and self-perception, and for transgender people it often, but far from always, manifests in a desire to alter one’s body morphology and again, often but not always, manifests in a desire to be recognized for one’s true gender by family, friends, and society. In so far as I am concerned, Gender relates to the sexual biology of the brain, and Sex relates to the sexual biology of the rest of the body.
Second Construct of Gender: In this view of the world, Gender is a social construct. It can be statistically correlated that morphological attributes such as greater average height and personality traits such as greater average aggression can be said to be male human traits. Similarly, greater average empathy, greater average intuitiveness, and greater average communication aptitude can be said to be female human traits. By no means does that mean that all women fulfill these female traits, nor that all men fulfill these male traits. The first insight from this Second Construct is that degree of differences are not nearly as great as the degree of overlap. The second insight is that some of these differences are rooted in biology and others are rooted in socialization.
While I accept both constructs as valid, I believe using the same word to represent both constructs harms the trans community by creating confusion over which definition of Gender is correct and by creating a false argument used by those who harm trans people by disingenuously challenging our very existence.
One of the major Hater Arguments is based on the Second Construct of Gender, as a social construct. It runs as follows: (1) Since Gender is merely a social construct, differences between female and male traits are marginal and thence not meaningful. (2) Therefore, Gender Identity must be a construct, since it’s based on self-perception aligning with a social construct of only marginal differences. (3) In the absence of meaningful distinctions between gender-aligned physical and character traits, in their view the only true clear divide is one’s private parts and secondary sexual characteristics. (4) They usually cite cis gender women’s lived experience as authentic and denigrate transgender women’s experience as false, given all the privileges, etc. — totally disregarding the age of transitioning (particularly young transitioners), or insisting that only people with wombs can be the real deal, or ignoring the tremendous disadvantages faced by transgender people, or ignoring girly transgender men and butch transgender women, or labeling transgender men as deeply misguided lesbians (even though some trans men are homosexual). (5) Hence, in their warped view, transgender people are simply deluded at best and freaks who should be banned and denied rights, healthcare, and respect at worst.
I intensely dislike the term Gender Identity. To me, the right term is Gender. I hold that my brain is biologically female gendered and always has been. I don’t “identify” as female. I am female and have always been that, even if the rest of my body did not conform. My brain never accepted me as male nor my sex organs nor my secondary male sex characteristics. I also know that when it came to knowing my gender, it wasn’t because I fit some combination of typically female character traits, and it wasn’t because I desired to alter my personality to align with any social construct. It also had nothing to do with any fetish or ideal. But I somehow knew I was female. I had to sit with my feelings for a while to recognize me as female when so many socially constructed aspects about me seemed masculine. And as my transition proceeded, I felt more and more confirmed and unburdened by being able to somewhat reverse the horror and deeply corrosive regret of having been subjected to the wrong puberty and then locked into that morphology for so long. So, for me, to “identify” as a specific binary gender or as non-binary sounds like I had a choice in the matter when the overwhelming truth is I had none. Consequently, what some people refer to as Gender Identity is, in my view, quite simply Gender, as defined in the First Construct.
At its heart, I regard the Second Construct of Gender (as a social construct) as reminiscent of Gender Presentation. Gender Presentation, or Gender Expression, is a person’s behavior, mannerisms, interests, and appearance that are associated with Gender in a particular cultural context, specifically with the categories of femininity or masculinity. This also includes Gender Roles. These categories rely on stereotypes about gender.
So, if I had the time and energy and no career goals, I would passionately advocate for creating a new appellation for the Second Construct of Gender as a social construct. I would also take time to painstakingly document publications and articles using the terms one way or the other. And I would painstakingly document haters’ conflation of the meaning of the term Gender to deny trans people’s existence and legitimacy.
But that’s not a luxury afforded me. So I am merely publishing this missive as yet another red flag to the transgender community. I hope some will pick up the thread and set it straight. Perhaps, that documentation work has already been done, and I simply haven’t come across it.
If I’m right, we need to assign a new name to at least one of the two very different definitions of the term Gender. Not that the trans community isn’t already facing an extraordinary onslaught of hate, but I worry we ignore getting the terms right at our own long-term peril.
This is an invitation of sorts. Principally to those in the transgender community to disabuse me of my ignorance if you think me misguided or to provide references that reinforce my hypothesis if you agree.
