2. To disentangle oneself from the word salad we seem to be drowning in, I find it really helpful to ask people to rephrase claims avoiding linking verbs (as my 11th grade English teacher would constantly urge). when people say things like "I am trans" or "I have a female identity", what does this actually mean. Define "female gender identity" without using the verbs to be or to have and you are forced to actually think about what you mean and avoid doublespeak.
"I am trans" means perhaps "I identify as a woman" or "I identify as a man". This automatically makes the statement no longer a transcendental one about absolute being, but rather a behavioural statement about a thing that a person does. You could then ask "why do you identify as a man", for which the answer often is "because I am trans". And what do you mean by that? Eventually you come full circle and so the incoherence is revealed - statements that are actually not saying anything concrete. I should add that gender identity folk find this approach offensive and upsetting, because it hurts their brains. But that is the point!
1. I have long argued that the word "gender" should never be used on its own but only paired with a second word, as gender is simply when you label something as male or female - in other words you draw an analogy with one of the two sexes. Nothing *has* a gender in an absolute sense, except for the two sexes of course. Gender exists when we do the labelling, which means language or at the very least thought. The fact that gender exists only in thought or language does not mean that this labelling is arbitrary or cannot be done incorrectly, as sex is a real physical thing.
So yes the idea that it can be used on its own only for sex makes a lot of sense. I actually will even say sex-gender to make clear when I am meaning the gender word associated with a person's sex, just because people are so confused these days that they might otherwise think I mean gender as in gender identity.
I have a fond memory of watching "Free to Be You and Me" as a kid. I am American, but my family lived abroad when I was little, so I didn't have much access to American television. However, I remember being at some children's activity and the adults in charge somehow had gotten a hold of one of the episodes, perhaps even the same one that your guest mentioned in the podcast, and showed it to us. I don't remember a single other thing about that day except watching that program! We all thought the sequence with the babies was hilarious, and I'm really glad I was exposed to that message at a young age. Even more memorable for me at the time, though, was a song called, "It's All Right to Cry." I was a really sensitive kid and was frequently made fun of for being "a crybaby." That song helped me feel less ashamed of expressing my emotions. What an affront that Turbin has stolen the name of program with such positive messages and twisted the meaning to serve his own ends, without even aknowledging what he has done!
Sex is "super confusing" - that is well known propagandist meme rhetoric, "so confusing", "could be a bit misleading" - about something that is completely clear to 99.99% of the public. That person is deliberately working to muddy the waters. #ExperiencedWithGMOCropPropagandists
I grew up in the 70s under the free-to-be philosophy. I was told that boys and girls were the same and could do anything. I had no limits on what I could do (which is why I don't understand why people feel tied by 'gender roles'), but I later discover that boys and girls are very, very different. I think I would've liked to have known that they are different.
The world is run, ruled and changed by linguists. Language is everything and all-powerful. The manipulators frequently change public-use-terms and meanings to enable or disable public discussion.
2. To disentangle oneself from the word salad we seem to be drowning in, I find it really helpful to ask people to rephrase claims avoiding linking verbs (as my 11th grade English teacher would constantly urge). when people say things like "I am trans" or "I have a female identity", what does this actually mean. Define "female gender identity" without using the verbs to be or to have and you are forced to actually think about what you mean and avoid doublespeak.
"I am trans" means perhaps "I identify as a woman" or "I identify as a man". This automatically makes the statement no longer a transcendental one about absolute being, but rather a behavioural statement about a thing that a person does. You could then ask "why do you identify as a man", for which the answer often is "because I am trans". And what do you mean by that? Eventually you come full circle and so the incoherence is revealed - statements that are actually not saying anything concrete. I should add that gender identity folk find this approach offensive and upsetting, because it hurts their brains. But that is the point!
Really interesting listen.
1. I have long argued that the word "gender" should never be used on its own but only paired with a second word, as gender is simply when you label something as male or female - in other words you draw an analogy with one of the two sexes. Nothing *has* a gender in an absolute sense, except for the two sexes of course. Gender exists when we do the labelling, which means language or at the very least thought. The fact that gender exists only in thought or language does not mean that this labelling is arbitrary or cannot be done incorrectly, as sex is a real physical thing.
So yes the idea that it can be used on its own only for sex makes a lot of sense. I actually will even say sex-gender to make clear when I am meaning the gender word associated with a person's sex, just because people are so confused these days that they might otherwise think I mean gender as in gender identity.
This was great. The ersatz religiosity of "trans" is such a powerful trick on the psyche.
I have a fond memory of watching "Free to Be You and Me" as a kid. I am American, but my family lived abroad when I was little, so I didn't have much access to American television. However, I remember being at some children's activity and the adults in charge somehow had gotten a hold of one of the episodes, perhaps even the same one that your guest mentioned in the podcast, and showed it to us. I don't remember a single other thing about that day except watching that program! We all thought the sequence with the babies was hilarious, and I'm really glad I was exposed to that message at a young age. Even more memorable for me at the time, though, was a song called, "It's All Right to Cry." I was a really sensitive kid and was frequently made fun of for being "a crybaby." That song helped me feel less ashamed of expressing my emotions. What an affront that Turbin has stolen the name of program with such positive messages and twisted the meaning to serve his own ends, without even aknowledging what he has done!
Sex is "super confusing" - that is well known propagandist meme rhetoric, "so confusing", "could be a bit misleading" - about something that is completely clear to 99.99% of the public. That person is deliberately working to muddy the waters. #ExperiencedWithGMOCropPropagandists
I grew up in the 70s under the free-to-be philosophy. I was told that boys and girls were the same and could do anything. I had no limits on what I could do (which is why I don't understand why people feel tied by 'gender roles'), but I later discover that boys and girls are very, very different. I think I would've liked to have known that they are different.
The world is run, ruled and changed by linguists. Language is everything and all-powerful. The manipulators frequently change public-use-terms and meanings to enable or disable public discussion.