I don't have the training to evaluate your explanation on scientific grounds, but it feels very right to me. It distresses me when people, trans or otherwise, state that "gender is a social construct," because it seems to invalidate my firm self-knowledge that I am a woman. Separating identity and expression resolves that - the *expression* of gender depends on the culture in which we live, but our gender identity does not.
Obviously many of the *social* aspects of gender that are socially constructed, but to suggest that *all* of gender is socially constructed is clearly not correct. Maybe I should do a post on that sometime...
Julia Serano has a good differentiation between gender as a social construct and gender as artificial. Which is a huge difference - but many conflate the two. Also she proposes a "gender inclination model" which fits your ideas very well.
She poses we have some innert trair that makes us gravitate to certain genders and thus this is a phenomenon which exists in many different cultures with different gender configurations.
I firmly believe that, like you said, trans girls (as an example) are not inclined to like pink or dresses - they just have this intrinsic feeling of "I should belong to the group who typically does those things" - and thus it might be affirming and still later they might gravitate to a more tomboyish or butch presentation.
If our culture would symbolise being a woman or girl through different things, trans girls would wish for *those* things.
And we do it subconsciously. Even though I didn't *know* I was a girl and didn't dress like one, I adopted other things until the boys taunted me for walking and talking funny, couldn't understand why I related to girls differently, etc.
I wasn't able to completely mask as a guy and I always paid a huge price.
We have tried to write about this. Also, here is a really good piece written by one of our best authors. https://thistleandmoss.com/p/gender-euphoria-and-dysphoria-not
Thanks! It's reassuring to know I'm not the only one thinking this.
Trust me, I can assure you , you are not alone.
I don't have the training to evaluate your explanation on scientific grounds, but it feels very right to me. It distresses me when people, trans or otherwise, state that "gender is a social construct," because it seems to invalidate my firm self-knowledge that I am a woman. Separating identity and expression resolves that - the *expression* of gender depends on the culture in which we live, but our gender identity does not.
Thanks.
Obviously many of the *social* aspects of gender that are socially constructed, but to suggest that *all* of gender is socially constructed is clearly not correct. Maybe I should do a post on that sometime...
Julia Serano has a good differentiation between gender as a social construct and gender as artificial. Which is a huge difference - but many conflate the two. Also she proposes a "gender inclination model" which fits your ideas very well.
She poses we have some innert trair that makes us gravitate to certain genders and thus this is a phenomenon which exists in many different cultures with different gender configurations.
I firmly believe that, like you said, trans girls (as an example) are not inclined to like pink or dresses - they just have this intrinsic feeling of "I should belong to the group who typically does those things" - and thus it might be affirming and still later they might gravitate to a more tomboyish or butch presentation.
If our culture would symbolise being a woman or girl through different things, trans girls would wish for *those* things.
And we do it subconsciously. Even though I didn't *know* I was a girl and didn't dress like one, I adopted other things until the boys taunted me for walking and talking funny, couldn't understand why I related to girls differently, etc.
I wasn't able to completely mask as a guy and I always paid a huge price.