So a very close friend of mine and I like to debate. It is particularly fun because we know each other well, can push buttons of each other and play the devil advocate while not starting WWIII.Originally Posted by tooblue
She has long been a proponent that boys and girls are a product of nurture. She has had three boys and has presented them with various opportunities across the traditional gender spectrum including for them trucks and dolls, etc. Her boys have gravitated towards traditional gender activities which I like to tease her about. To her credit they are very well rounded and have been exposed to a great deal of cultural things.
A common friend of ours recently came out as trans and she desperately wanted to know my thoughts. Her husband and her had a very heated debate on this with lots of hurt feelings. I told her the bottom line for me is my understanding of gender dysphoria was limited but that the science was still out on that particular subject and so it was hard to have a conclusion other than I feel strongly that the great commandments to love thy neighbor was what I had to do. She religiously is agnostic, but grew up LDS.
So this we discussed some more and I teasingly said, "Well you know what I think when it comes to children: Boys should play with trucks, girls should play with dolls. Boys should like to hunt, girls should like to do pretty things. Boys wear pants and girls wear dresses and have long hair and wear makeup. Boys like blue and red and girls like pink." This of course made her upset (or as upset when we are jokingly debating).
So then I teased again, "Okay, so I am admittedly ignorant on the subject, but why when a person feels they are another gender it is manifested in those 'antiquated' gender norms I just said. Does femininity really have to do with hair and makeup and wearing dresses? Conversely why short hair for men etc. Just a couple of centuries ago pink was a masculine color."
This was intended to make her mad and it did. She didn't like that line of questions but also didn't have answers.
I don't understand gender issues well I know and admit that. However it seems that gender dysphoria is manifest in social constructs rather than what is actual gender? I dunno.
I'm sure many of you better educated on the subject can enlighten me. I haven't found anything yet on the internet that addresses that but hope to learn more.
In the meantime I'll continue to tease my friend.
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