Gender, is it a spectrum?

[Hope]

The modern mantra appears to tell us that gender is a spectrum.  Rebecca Reilly-Cooper, a political philosopher at the University of Warwick, suggest that it isn't.  She goes as far as to suggest that this idea "... is both illogical and politically troubling".

https://aeon.co/essays/the-idea-that-gender-is-a-spectrum-is-a-new-gender-prison

What do folk here think?

[Leonard James]

The article is a tad too complicated for my old brain to take in completely.

However, I do agree that each of us is a unique combination of personality concepts ... including sexuality. Inevitably that makes us all part of a spectrum.

[Bubbles]

I suspect everything to do with people is a spectrum.

Science tries to define us, but it doesn't mean we all fall into its definitions.

It deals with generalisations when it comes to people.

But we are unique individuals.

And it's great when individuals meet and share things in common.

[L.A.]

. . . and sex used to be so simple . . . . 

[floo]

Whilst I would never wish to be a guy, I have always been a tom boy, never girlie girlie!

[Brownie]

I don't know that this is a modern mantra, it's always been the case that people are individuals and can't always fit into precise pigeonholes.  However the vast majority are and will always be a specific gender, even allowing for variations such as 'being in touch with feminine or masculine side', as we all have a bit of both.  It's not a big deal, in this day and age we're not so hung up about traditional roles.  Thank goodness for that too!

[Hope]

I was interested to see the author point out that gender was traditionally a linguistic, as opposed to a political, term.  Is it time we began to pull our heads out of our backsides as a society and began to realise that many 'traditional' ideas lasted as long as they did because they have far more truth in them than we care to admit.

[Brownie]

Yes of course; traditional ideas must be examined and challenged but nothing should be thrown out just because it's "traditional".  There are plenty of good and sensible traditions.  At the same time we should not feel compelled to hang onto traditions just because they've always been.

[Harrowby Hall]

I was interested to see the author point out that gender was traditionally a linguistic, as opposed to a political, term.  Is it time we began to pull our heads out of our backsides as a society and began to realise that many 'traditional' ideas lasted as long as they did because they have far more truth in them than we care to admit.

I agree that gender was a linguistic term. I suppose it does have some value when considering a species which, uniquely, uses sex and sexuality for expressive purposes.

What does piss me off, however, is the constant use of "gender" as a sort of politically correct and polite alternative for "sex" (particularly when used on government questionnaires).

However the vast majority are and will always be a specific gender,

Male and female are sexual conditions, the gender equivalents are masculine and feminine.

Danny La Rue's sex was male, his gender may well have stretched towards the feminine.

[trippymonkey]

At the same time we should not feel compelled to hang onto traditions just because they've always been.

Try telling that to Muslims or certain types of Christians !!!

[wigginhall]

Good post from HH above.   Discussion of gender is very confused, since it used to refer to cultural differences, particularly to do with masculinity and feminity, but is now often used to refer to biological sex identity, i.e. maleness and femaleness.    Obviously, the first one has a wide spectrum, people can be more or less masculine and feminine.   There are butch women and feminine men. 

Biological sex identity certainly has 'inbetween' cases, that of intersex people; I don't know if these in fact exist on a spectrum.

I find this writer (in the link) confusing, as she keeps talking about masculine and feminine (the old sense of gender), but seems to also revert to talking about sex identity (the new sense).   

[Brownie]

She's probably confused about it  .

[wigginhall]

She's probably confused about it  .

Well, many people are confused,  as the meaning of the word 'gender' has been changing in the last 20 years.  It used to mean cultural stuff, but now often means biological.   Every time I have a discussion about it, I have to check what the writer means, and quite often they are using the word in both senses!   If I am a feminine man, then my sex identity is quite different from my gender expression, as HH said about Danny La Rue.  On top of that, you have sexual orientation, so this is chaos really.  For example, there are gay men who are extremely macho.   Of course, on top of this we have transgender people, who want to change sex, to a greater or less extent, and transvestite men who don't and are often straight.