Some aspects of gender are because of biological differences, like the general assumptions that biosex female people have certain parts and biosex males have certain parts. Then there are things like hormone levels that may bring out certain behavior traits, and some of those behavior tendencies have been associated with one sex or the other. Then there are the social constructs on top of that, so gender is a much more complicated thing than sex is.
The part that is a social construct is more like:
"Pink is for girls, blue is for boys, and a boy who wears pink is feminine." (It used to be that blue was for girls and pink was for boys, in the past.)
Some part of what we see as feminine or masculine has to do with social conditioning about what men and women are "supposed" to do, like or be, and not with any actual biological difference.
Such as: Men can grow long hair. Women can grow long hair. We have decided that long hair is more feminine. It had practical reasons - women were less likely to do physical work that would catch their hair or clothing, so we could wear it longer, but in-and-of-itself, long hair is just a thing either sex can have. It's neutral, biologically speaking. And in this day, and age, we see some men who are considered to be quite masculine having longer hair. This is because the social construct of women with long hair and men with short turns out not to matter in the modern age as much as it used to matter, so the social construct has changed to say "some women still look feminine and hot with short hair and it's just fine" and "some men look masculine and hot with long hair, and that's also just fine."
Just a little side note about the pink thing Back in the old days having red clothes was a prestigious thing reserved for the wealthy men as it was the most expensive dye and it was also a dye that didn't last long so with washing red clothes became pink quickly So men wore pink not because pink was"manly" but because red was though frankly it was more about showing wealth than being manly even
^Fair breakdown
@Aynsof Well, that was one thing but there are Victorian era books that talk about pink being a robust color for baby boys and blue being a subdued color for baby girls, specifically.
I think that some aspects of masculinity and femininity are social constructs... but that those social constructs are led out from biological facts. There are biological differences between men and women that makes some types of skill and behaviour more "natural" for one sex than for the other... but not all the gender roles are purely based on biology, nor do all aspects of masculinity and femininity have basis in biology.
There's also the fact that we have evolved beyond the animal stage and can to a much bigger degree choose whether or not we want to follow those base instincts. And so, some of the things we have been raised to think of as "masculine" or "feminine" aren't really in a biological sense, they are just learned behaviours.
So... like many questions in life, the answer is "both yes and no." ^_^
That is by far the best answer here on this question, imho.
Yes, it is. What is "masculine" or "feminine" is a matter of personal opinion and societal upbringing/environment. Things that are considered "very feminine" in one culture are just considered "strange" in other cultures and vice versa. The same goes for masculinity. For instance there is a tribe in Central America where young men have to jump a really high tower with a vine tied around their foot. Kinda like bungee jumping but much, much more painful. Rather than being elastic like a rubber rope, those vines stop your fall very abruptly. Many of the young guys get seriously injured. Yet, the passage rite is mandatory and going through it alive is considered to be "very manly". Most westerners, including most western men would probably regard this ritual as dangerous and weird, not masculine.
There are hormonal, biological and psychological differences. Those are certainly hardwired, as an example even in apes males prefer trucks and balls, while females prefer clothing and dolls. Response to emotional distress alao seems to be hardwired, as is attraction patterns (guys have a visual trigger), and males seem to have a biological urge to protect women. Further there may be a few deep psychological assumptions about gender that are also hardwired such as the belief that men are more dangerous or aggressive then women (recent studies involving domestic violence challenge that assumption). But some of the trappings are societal such as makeup or clothing or color designations.
Thanks for MHO
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What's Your Opinion? Sign Up Now!The real logical explanation why I know for a fact that masculinity and femininity is not a social construct is the fact that masculinity and femininity existed before governments even were started. All masculinity and femininity are is just the way to describe male and female and also in a spiritual aspect, to describe both traits from masculinity and femininity that are found in all of us the fact that masculinity and femininity traits are found in everyone. And no what I mean by feminine traits and masculinity traits I don't mean what the mainstream media tries to push. Putting on makeup does not make you feminine just as much as getting shredded and cussing people out does not make you more of a man. And it's because of the lies and mainstream media push they want us to be brainwashed so that you're not able to question anything. The reason for that is because they don't want to people to be smarter than them because they want to control us, you want to know real oppression? the real oppression is the mainstream media and the globalist agenda that just want world domination. In order to actually be smart you have to learn to question everything including your own beliefs including yourself and including everyone else and you have to learn to be curious and have to learn to be open-minded and you have to learn not to be a hypocrite and you also have to learn to overcome fears. If you are too prudent to allow other people to talk and you're not allowing people to talk and say their piece of the puzzle before your turn, then you'll never learn therefore you'll never grow and therefore you'll never be smarter. The only thing that is a social construct is belief itself and ideologies and perspectives. The problem with people of the extreme left is just the same exact problem Bible Thumpers have. They both tell lies and they both say a whole bunch of words they don't know the meaning of and then twist the truth or make people believe in a lie and try to make people think that their words they are using or the meaning that they think isn't meaning that I was actually a different meaning than they think. Because narcissism. The truth: we are all living in The Matrix. The more you see people for how they look on the outside or for how they are different the more you will learn hate. True Justice is blind. It does not discriminate and it does not see color and it also doesn't see in black and white. You can't make the world a better place if you give into hatred
yes, I think we both have masculin and feminin in us, but I think guys have hard time accepting this cause they were raised in a way that being feminin is being less
Masculine* feminine*
Nobody has had your life but you, and that goes for everyone. Everything is relative. Think, if a question is not properly worded, the answers will depend on the interpretation and be a little off, maybe.
I think they have a basis in evolution and biology more than anything. However, I do also think those biological differences have led society to push the different genders into certain roles, which is definitely a social construct.
Overall, in their purest forms, I don’t think they are social constructs, but the bi-products of masculinity and femininity are social constructs... if that makes sense lol
In my experience, yes. When I was younger, I loved cars, sports, science and building treehouses while I hated wearing dresses, playing with dolls, the color pink, anything with glitters etc. However, as I got older this started to change because in school teachers would only let me play with other girls, with dolls and all that stuff. People have always told me that I should like all those girly things. Now, I have started to like more girly things but I still prefer science sports and cars.
That sucks. I think we should like whatever we like. We shouldn't have to be forced into liking things because of our gender. Its absolutely wrong.
@AshleySeeks you are a tomboy, that's cool! But having certain interests don't determine your gender, which is what we created. Then again, there are certain things that men and gravitate towards specifically. It just so happens you gravitate towards something mostly men do. Doesn't make you a man though.
@AshleySeeks well l think that l will go back to primark and buy that dress its only £4 pound lol
There have been soooo many numerous and dense research done to disprove this argument. Back in the day, when we humans were living in caves and running around hunting. There was no social construct our biology structured the way behave and fundamental masculine and feminine behaviors are a result of evolution. Even Christians believe this very thing.
Of course they are! I was just watching young children play for my psychology degree and observed a young boy preparing tea and offering it to others. The other boys responded and pretended to drink tea but that's assumed a female thing to do. Children don't differentiate between girls and boys toys until they can read their parent's responses to certain toys. That boy was likely mimicking behaviour they had seen, something that is involved in learning, not at all concerned about the sex of the person they're mimicking. Many parents will have said to their child at some point, "don't play with that, that's a girl's/boy's toy." That is how they learn what is right and wrong and what is 'wrong' for their sex. The toy industry was actually what created the pink/blue divide and it could be reversible in many years to come if toys were gender neutral, not aimed at one gender and parents didn't also judge their children for the type of toy they played with. It would be nice to get to that point, then people wouldn't judge the 'unusual' children who like things they 'shouldn't' like.
And it's ironic I am writing this on GaG, that differentiates male and female with pink and blue colours!
That doesn't change that masculinity and femininity. Male brains and female brains do work different and they naturally gravitate towards different things which is where we observed what boys and girls like and decided to sell to them. They can be silly and joke around with tea. That has nothing to do with either masculinity or femininity.
l like pink and blue l am a very straight guy
Not entirely, but if you don't think at least part of it is social construct, you're kidding yourself.
Large parts of what we think of as feminine and masculine IS nurture not nature.
Such as things like long hair, skirts, pink, high heels, make up, being submissive/shy being seen as feminine.
Actually submission is seen in women naturally more then men who tend to be more aggressive and assertive. Heels were made specifically to accentuate their legs and hips, make up was created to accentuate the naturally feminine qualities of the face.
no, heels were historically created for men to flaunt high status but become associated with women and their perceptions of femininity. Make up was historically created for both men and women to enhance facial features which was seen in various cultures. Even today, despite the make up industry being dominated by women, there is a growing market for men. Neither of these two products are naturally associated with either femininity or masculinity
@SirRexington How does the first part of your argument relate to the second? If something was "created" then it's societal. Creativity = human innovativeness.
Yes. I'm 100% heterosexual, but have mostly masculine traits. People often assume that I'm a lesbian because I'm not in the least "girly".
Of course they are, that doesn't mean that they're any less realistic. Although, they can be very generalized. The application varies from person to person.
There are naturally things appearance wise which are associated with opposite genders and part, not all of it is social construct.
Based off Carl Jung's theory of anima and animus we all possess both masculinity and femininity. Anima is subconsciously inside a male which is feminity and animus is subconsciously inside a female which is masculinity. People need to understand that males and females are both physically and mentally different. If you refuse to believe that might as well just call yourself a postmodernist.
Of course and definitely are. The society and especially social media, have great influences on the definition of masculinity and femininity.
I think some parts are but some aren't, like girls wearing makeup and wearing dresses and guys talking about cars and stuff I think are but I woman looking after babies and guys looking after the family and doing physical tasks is more instinctive
Well dresses were made to fit the contours of the female body. I definitely think some things have been pigeonholed and taken too far, but for the most part these roles exist pretty naturally.
oh haha i duno about dress history, but yeah I agree, a lot of it is probably just naturally how w would act, but I think it's probably just a little different for humans than animals cause I think even if its instictual we're still kind of aware of what we do
I'd largely agree with that since some people have, e. g., a communication style more like that of the opposite sex, or other characteristics.
No because we have substantial amounts of data showing that its biological in nature, that many of the behaviors can be found across the primate order, shown to exist in infancy, shown to exist in a biological sense, shown that hormones influence behavior and that male and female hormones are different etc. Their is not debate on this, scientifically speaking, gender is not social its biological in origin.
I really hate the PC term "social construct."
I hate the term "broken exhaust" but that don't make my car run any better.
@MarketData Mildly clever but not apropos. A "broken" exhaust is a tangible thing. "Social construct" is a theory used to try to mold social consciousness in a particular direction.
i have too many strong examples of flexibility in my life to know otherwise.
non-biological aspects absolutely are social constructs
I believe there are basic differences, but social constructs pull the difference apart further and exaggerates the differences that would normally be there.
I think they have both existed thousands of years before “social construct” became a term.
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