ArrGGHH!! ...

I had an interesting and educational conversation with my daughter about the the other week. Having always thought (caveman that I am) that being born with a c@ck and balls made you a boy she informed me that your sex (M or F) is how you’re born but your gender can change. She currently has a student friend who is female, identifies as male sometimes and female sometimes and likes to be referred to as ‘they’ I agree its all very confusing particularly when we’ve always referred to her as she. I currently identify as a latte spoon and like to be referred to as shiny long handled spoon.

 

You’re ‘techie’, so this might intrigue you enough to do some research (I can’t find it now).

I’m a bit old school and my kids have a go about ‘transphobia’ too.

last week though I read an article by a biologist, who in response to gender = chromosomes, gave fascinating detail about what happens when chromosomes are formed, how they work, how genitals form and how different hormones get triggered.

Anyway, the upshot is that I now understand a bit more about why it’s not a binary situation, but I’m probably too old for it to change my behaviour too much but at least I now know it’s too complex for a simple old bloke like me to pontificate about.

 

Sorry maybe its age but im lost to the amount of different human species on this planet.My understanding is men and women.Ok some men like other men and some women like other women so what.Im lost with the other ones.

 

Weirdly me and a colleague were chatting about this topic at work before lockdown hit. We googled the number of genders and the list that came up was huge (64 I think) I had no idea there were so many labels for gender

 

I'm 28 and I'm at a loss too. You're either a bloke or a woman in my eyes. If you decide to change gender and go through with the op, you become the other sex. Some people like the same sex, some like others and some like both, that's fine.

 

Why folk just don`t get on with their lives and ways, without having to advertise it all the time.

 

so what is non binary then ? I have no clue.

 

It's someone who's had their wheelie bin stolen.

 

The point is .....I am not claiming that there are only two 'flavours' of human beings i.e. male of female.

In non technical simplistic terms -The container we come in i.e. the body does not always reflect the contents. Outwardly male may mean male, bi, homosexual, female . Physical appearances can deceive and as I said the complexity of the human psyche is down to genes, hormones and the chemical cocktails coarsing through our brains.
My gripe is why the need to label it and why do people get so offended if (especially if there are 64 -and counting-so called genders).
Why the need to draw attention....i.e. look at me I am different.
In the same way I have never fully bought into 'Gay Pride' and all those exhibitionists who flaunt their sexuality. I get it that they are making a statement as , unlike heterosexuals, they often suffer discrimination. Nevertheless, having worked in the entertainment industry I have worked with many gay and lesbian people and they ranged from the extrovert and flamboyant to the discrete, the latter not because they were afraid to 'come out' but did not to see the need to flaunt their sexuality. One of my managers was gay but unless you knew him and simply met him in the street you would have never guessed.

 

You are confusing gender with sexual orientation. The two are completely different.

 

NO I am not. Read my posts carefully. Physically we are born with male or female genitalia so 2 genders

Thereafter, Newborns have no other physical characteristics that distinguish them from each other. Nor do they have sexual preferences until they start reaching puberty. It is genes and hormones that determines how we develop physically into adulthood. .

Therefore IMHO, most of these gender labels...hetero, bi, homosexual etc ARE about sexual orientation and nothing to do with the physical construct of the body. Admittedly these are mixed up with 'so called 'genders' that ARE determined by hormones where a body develops , for example, female attributes breasts and certain female characteristics on a body with a penis. IF you look at the list of so called genders many ARE about sexual orientation , nothing more, nothing less ..hence my issue. The latest list is now up to 72!!

 

YES you are.

"hetero, bi, homosexual" are NOT gender labels. They are sexual preferences. If you look at the list of genders, the labels you have cited are NOT ON IT. That is a fact. Whether you agree with the list or not isn't my point or concern.

I'm not having a go at you, so NO NEED for the CAPS LOCK. I am just clarifying the difference.

 

But those genes and hormones don’t subscribe to the binary model we believed they did. Now we understand more about what happens it gets very interesting (if you’re prepared to do a little reading).

 

It was all invented when a male got caught at a leisure centre in the female changing rooms and came up with a very convenient excuse. (Joke obvs)..

But seriously, I've seen discussions on this subject with varying degrees of thinking. Some people were of the view that you could wake up one day and feel for the sake of this conversation female, yet the next week male. Badging it up as gender fluidity.

I'm a firm believer in freedom of thought and speech providing it doesn't cause people physical harm or deliberate mental torment.

I've never bought into the thinking that only one view has to be accepted and if anybody thinks differently then they are considered to be offending people. Said it many times, being offended is a personal thing.

 

So given there are apparently now 71genders what tests are out there to determine what gender someone is? Are they readily available and affordable and have all these people who claim to be offended if, for example, you fail to address them as "we" had them? Does not knowing affect how they feel and given modern life is complicated enough does it really matter? It is all frankly, a sideshow and there are far more important things to resolve in the World.

 

Unless you are the person who feels ridiculed, ignored, not taken seriously and wants to commit suicide because of the first three things I just listed, there are.

 

If it has been 'hijacked' then its meaning has changed.

You may think it refers only to being born with a cóck and balls, or not, but its meaning has changed.

 

I agree with you that there’s more important things to get angry about than identity politics (mentioned it briefly recently).

but from where I’m looking the only person on this board who is angry about it is you!

Now as you’re not a victim here; you can either choose to ignore the issue, or as I suggested earlier, read up on it, you’ve more spare time than me, and education feeds the soul. Enrich your life and broaden your mind

 

So you're just going to skip my reply I see

What is it with certain posters on here that makes it so hard for them to admit that they got something wrong? It isn't a show of weakness!!!