Mercury wrote: ↑January 7th, 2023, 1:24 pm
Belindi wrote: ↑January 7th, 2023, 10:06 am
All stereotyping including allocation of biological sex is bad for individuals for whom freedom defines what it is to be human. If you want to grossly mutilate your own body I think you are making a mistake, and to mutilate someone else is evil.
I don't quite understand you here. Biological sex is not allocated. It's just a fact. Babies are born either male or female. In the vast majority of people, biological sex and psychological gender are aligned. There are a few people for whom that's not true - but they are rare. Genuine gender dysphoria does not explain the current trans craze. It's ideological; it's not a disordered relation between biological sex and psychological gender, but a fashion, a fad, a vogue - underpinned by politically correct gender politics. It's particularly damaging to young people; who may, as you say, inflict life-long changes on their bodies. But it's also a danger to women, to have men self-identifying as women, able to invade female only private spaces. It's a very bad policy - one that simply hasn't been thought through, because political correctness is anything but tolerant of the free expression of ideas, people are afraid to criticise.
Belindi wrote: ↑January 9th, 2023, 9:18 amAll categories without exception are human concepts. No domestic or wild animal has any concept of biological sex. Humans are the only animals that think in abstract concepts.
That's neither true nor relevant. Biological sex is the basis of reproduction across the animal kingdom; some animals are born male, and others female. In many species males compete with other males for sexual access to females.
Belindi wrote: ↑January 9th, 2023, 9:18 am'Male' and 'female' are concepts i.e. frames that are useful in some way.
No. Male and female are biological facts and independent of human conceptualisation.
Belindi wrote: ↑January 9th, 2023, 9:18 amAll known societies allocate sex and gender to individuals so that work and abilities can be most usefully allocated . This is why we have kinship rules, and special ceremonies for coming of age, and marriage.
No. Sex is a biological fact. In most individuals psychological gender is aligned to biological sex. According to physchologists, in a very few individuals, this is not the case - and there's a genuine disordered relationship between biological sex and psychological gender.
Belindi wrote: ↑January 9th, 2023, 9:18 amThere are physical differences between male and female bodies, true.
Oh, so you noticed that? Then could you explain how biological sex is a matter of human conceptualisation?
Belindi wrote: ↑January 9th, 2023, 9:18 amHowever there are vastly more sorts of differences that may be used to stereotype individuals, differences such as red-haired v other skin and hair pigmentation or lack of, prognathous or regular jaw, eye colour, existence and position of birth marks, firstborn v other sibling relationship, age in years, number and violence level of childhood tantrums, lines on the palm of the hand, etc. We group people according to their primary and secondary sexual characteristics because we have learned to do so.
But we're not talking about those. We're talking about sex and gender.
Belindi wrote: ↑January 9th, 2023, 9:18 amThe concepts of biological sex and pyschological gender are normally aligned, and for sound reason and often ethical reason of social control.
Control by whom exactly? God? Evolution? Men?? I have no idea what you're saying here.
Belindi wrote: ↑January 9th, 2023, 9:18 amI completely agree with you as to the faddishness of gender change most especially when the young person seeks to change their body by drugs or invasive surgery. I also recognise the fad's possibilities for increase in criminal activity. I am making the more general point that all concepts are social constructs.
Humans conceptualise reality, but they don't construct reality - they describe it. Biological sex is described - not constructed. According to Piaget, who did a lot of experiments on childhood development, boys and girls play differently - and this relates to physical differences. Females bear children, and prepare in infancy for this role. They prefer social games - whereas boys prefer games that rehearse hunting behaviour. Gender straddles the nature nurture divide - I'll go that far, and society can either reinforce a gendered division of roles, or seek not to - but gender is heavily based in biology. It's not a social construct.
Belindi wrote: ↑January 9th, 2023, 9:18 amWith the advent of genetic engineering we now need to face the fact that the concept of biological sex may be becoming dysfunctional.
Please explain that, because again, I've no idea what you mean.