Question from Claire:
I am a college student taking a Philosophy of Gender class and need to interview people of different religions, including an atheist, on their opinions on sex and gender, and I realized I don’t know any atheists. I was wondering if you would be willing to give your answer to the following questions for me (and allow me to use them in a paper).
1. Please define what you think “biological sex” means. For example, when someone says that “Paul is biologically male” or “Jennifer biologically female,” what do you think that means?
2. What does “gender” mean? Is it different than biological sex or the same? If the same, why do you believe this? If different, how are they different?
3. What would you say is the basis for your answers? For example, science, religion, tradition/upbringing, etc.? Why do you trust that basis?
I realize this is a lot to answer but if you had the time I would really appreciate it and if not I understand. Thank you,
Answer by SmartLX:
It’s not so much to answer. You may use my responses in your paper. So, let’s get to it.
1. “Biological sex” is the sex of your body’s anatomy, including hormones and chromosomes as well as genitals and other obvious features. If someone is biologically male, either he lives as a man and their body suits the role or she feels she’s a woman and may need to explore the possibility of transitioning.
2. Gender is imposed by culture and society. It’s what a man or a woman should be, do, and want. “Biological gender” is sometimes used to mean the same as “biological sex” above, but only because “sex” and “gender” are so often treated as interchangeable when people aren’t thinking about gender issues. “Gender” is not the same as “sex” or “biological sex” because, and this is what blows people’s minds, it has nothing to do with the state of one’s body. This is why people with one sex essentially belong in the other gender, or somewhere in between.
3. As trans people and others in related situations (e.g. intersex, bigender) are allowed and encouraged to tell their stories and be open about their circumstances (including a good friend of mine), it’s becoming increasingly clear that traditional and most or all religious positions on these issues apply very poorly to reality. in these worldviews a person should not grow up as an unhappy man and suddenly begin to flourish as a woman or vice versa because sex is equivalent to gender, but it happens and it gets sillier and sillier to deny it. So I try to keep up with the biological science but I mostly go by academic positions based on large-scale survey data. These are based on what people say about their own situations and what their doctors say about them, but they have sufficient sample sizes and statistical analysis to go beyond the anecdotal. It’s the best kind of source to tell you what’s really going on.
4 thoughts on “Sex Isn’t Gender Anymore”
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IF SO, AS YOU, DEAR SMART AND WIDELY EDUCATED MAN, ARE SAYING, THEN W H Y DOES NATURE MAKE SUCH GROSS MISTAKES, AS IS MAKING ONE’S BODY TOTALLY PHYSICALLY OF FEMALE OR MALE ANATOMICAL, BIOLOGICAL SEX, INCLUDING CORRESPONDING TO THEIR GENITALS…IN BOTH QUALITY AND QUANTITY, BOTH EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL IN FEMALE GENDER…HORMONES?
I MEAN, ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING, PHYSICALLY SPEAKING, IN SUCH PEOPLE, IS OF ONE OF THE BIOLOGICAL SEXES, FEMALE OR MALE, BUT THEIR BRAINS WORK…YOU SAY THEY FEEL…IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION, SEX WISE, OR ONLY PARTLY SO, OR IN BOTH DIRECTIONS, NOT IN THE DIRECTION ONLY TOWARDS THE OPPOSITE BIOLOGICAL SEX, FOR WHICH THEIR GENITALS HAVE BEEN FORMED.
IS THE ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION IN THAT NATURE MAKES ALL SORTS OF MISTAKES, THE INTERNET IS FULL OF SUCH BOTH ANIMAL AND HUMAN ERRORS OF NATURE, LIKE PEOPLE WITH TWO HEADS AND OTHER SUCH PEOPLE AND ANIMALS?
COS WE ARE, TOO, ANIMALS, OF SPECIES HOMO SAPIENS SAPIENS.
BUT, HOW IS IT POSSIBLE, I MEAN THE NATURE’S ERROR CONSISTING IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION OF WORKINGS OF THE BRAIN, TO WHAT GENITALS ON HAS IN THEIR BODIES, AS IS THE CASE OF SEXUAL DRIVE TO THE SAME SEX PEOPLE, OR OTHER LGBT PEOPLE, OF THE WORKINGS OF THEIR BRAINS, OPPOSITE TO THE ANATOMY OF THEIR GENITALS, HOW, HAVING IN MIND THAT THE BRAIN IS NOT, PHYSICALLY, A GENITAL ORGAN.
OR IS IT?
OF COURSE IT IS, AND VERY MUCH SO.
AND HERE IS HOW IT BECOMES A FEMALE OR MALE ONE, IN ACCORD OR IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION OF SEX DRIVE OF A PERSON, OPPOSITE TO WHAT THE SEX OF A PERSON SHOWS OUTWARDLY TO BE. LGBT. OR LGB, COS THE ‘T’ PERSON IS THE ONE WHO CORRECTED THE NATURE’S ERROR.
I FOUND OUT HOW IT HAPPENS.
ON THE INTERNET THERE IS A THEORY, OR RATHER VERY MUCH SCIENTIFIC FINDINGS, OF A MARRIED COUPLE OF SCIENTISTS, THUS HOPEFULLY THEM NOT BEING BIASED IN EITHER DIRECTION, REGARDING OF HOW, WHY AND WHEN ONE PERSON BECOMES LGBT.
IT’S AN ERROR, ONCE OR TWICE, OF THE NATURE DURING THE DEVELOPMENT OF EMBRYO IN UTERUS.
THEY SAY THAT IT IS OF COURSE NO CHOICE AND IS INBORN.
AND SO IT IS.
BUT, INBORN, HOW, GENETICALLY OR OTHERWISE, DUE TO HAPPENINGS TO THE EMBRYO DEVELOPING INTO FEMALE OR MALE IN UTERUS?
NOT GENETICALLY, DEFINITELY NOT, BUT HORMONAL WISE, DUE TO AN ERROR IN WORKINGS OF MOTHERS’S SEX HORMONE TESTOSTERONE, WHICH IS THE DRIVING FORCE FOR SEXUAL DRIVE AND AGGRESSION OF BOTH FEMALES AND MALES. SEXUALLY NORMAL MALES HAVE 5-10 TIMES MORE TESTOSTERONE THAN SEXUALLY NORMAL FEMALES. OUT OF THIS NORMAL RANGE, WE WILL HAVE DIFFERENT KINDS AND GRADES OF LGBT PEOPLE.
BTW, BOTH FEMALES AND MALES NEED TESTOSTERONE, FEMALES FOR THEIR SEXUAL DRIVE AND FOR THE DEFENSE, WHERE AGGRESSION IS NEEDED, OF THEIR SELVES AND THEIR YOUNG, WHILE MALES OF COURSE NEED TO HAVE MUCH STRONGER SEXUAL DRIVE, IT IS OUT OF SUBJECT ISSUE OF WHY HERE, AND ALSO MUCH STRONGER AGGRESSION. WOMEN NURSE. MEN FIGHT. SORT OF.
AS IS KNOWN, FEMALE EGG IS NEUTER, SEX WISE, HAVING AN X CHROMOSOME ONLY, FROM ITS MOTHER, WHO, BEING FEMALE, HAS TWO EXES, XX. AND, AS IS ALSO KNOWN, MALES HAVE AN X AND AND AN Y, THEY ARE XY. SO, THEIR SPERM CELLS ARE EITHER FEMALE, X, OR MALE, Y. WHEN ONE OF THE MALE SPERMS ENTERS THE EGG, IMPREGNATING THE FEMALE, THEN THE EGG FINISHED UP WITH HAVING EITHER XX OR XY. THE XX IS FEMALE, THE Y IS MALE. BUT, THIS DIFFERENCE IN THE EMBRYO AS YOUNG AS MAYBE A MONTH OR TWO ONLY INTO PREGNANCY, WILL NOT BE LET KNOWN BY THE EMBRYO’S EITHER XX OR XY CHROMOSOMES, TO THE BRAIN OF THE MOTHER. IT HAPPENS, THE LETTING TO KNOW ‘I AM A GIRL’ OR ‘I AM A BOY’, WILL HAPPEN A LITTLE LATER THAN IS THE TIME WHEN THE EMBRYO HAD ALREADY STARTED ITS DEVELOPMENT AS FEMALE, ALL OF EMBRYOS, SOME FEMALE IN REALITY, OTHERS MALES NOT HAVING SHOWN THE MALE STATUS YET, THUS PROVING THAT FEMALE GENDER IS THE BASIC ONE, AND IF THERE WILL BE NO OBSTACLE TO ITS FURTHER DEVELOPMENT INTO FEMALES, IT WILL DEVELOP FULLY INTO A FEMALE. A GIRL. A WOMAN. THUS MALES HAVE TITS. COS THEY STARTED, AS WELL AS FEMALES, AS FEMALES. BUT THEN, IN CASE OF FUTURE BOYS, THERE COMES THE OBSTACLE TO THEIR FURTHER DEVELOPMENT TO GIRLS.
THAT IS, THE BOYS, THEIR Y CHROMOSOME, SENDS A CHEMICAL MESSAGE TO MUM’S BRAIN, AROUND THE THIRD MONTH INTO PREGNANCY, WHEN IS THE TIME FOR THE EMBRYO TO START DEVELOPING ITS GENITALS, EITHER FURTHER INTO FEMALE GENDER, OR INTO MALES, WHERE THE PHYSICAL GAP THAT WOULD BE THE LIPS OF THE VULVA, GET CLOSED TOGETER AND DEVELOPS FURTHER INTO PENIS. AT THAT STAGE, EXACTLY BEFORE THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE GENITALS OF THE EMBRYO STARTS, PRESENTLY HAVING A GAP IN THE PLACE OF FUTURE GENITALS, GAP FOR VULVA, IT IS OF UTTER IMPORTANCE THAT THE BOYS’ Y CHROMOSOMES SEND TO THEIR MUM THE CRUCIAL MESSAGE FOR THEM TO CONTINUE THEIR FURTHER DEVELOPMENT AS MALES AND NOT FEMALES THEY STARTED AS, THE WAY THEY ‘SHAMEFULLY’ STARTED THEIR IN UTERUS LIFE. SO, THE BOY’S Y CHROMOSOME SAYS TO MOM’S BRAIN THAT HE IS A BOY. AND THEN, MOMS BRAIN DUTIFULLY ORDERS TO SOME ENDOCRINE GLANDS OF MUM, ACTUALLY THE ONES THAT SIT ON THE TOP OF OUR KIDNEYS, TO PRODUCE M O R E TESTOSTERONE FOR A B O Y AND SEND IT TO HIS DEVELOPING LITTLE BODY IN HER, WHILE IN CASE WHEN THE GIRL EMBRYO HAVING TWO EXES, XX, WILL TELL MOM’S BRAIN THAT SHE IS GIRL, AND MUM’S ENDOCRINE GLANDS WILL PRODUCE L E S S TESTOSTERONE AND SEND IT TO THE G I R L EMBRYO. THIS HAPPENS EVEN IN THE CASE WHEN MOM IS CARRYING TWINS OF DIFFERENT SEXES IN HER UTERUS, BUT THEY HAVE TWO PLACENTAS, NOT ONE, AS IS THE CASE WITH IDENTICAL IN SEX AND EVERYTHING, AND MOM’S ENDOCRINE GLANDS MAKE NO MISTAKE IN TO WHOM TO SEND MORE AND TO WHOM LESS TESTOSTERONE.
U N L E S S THEY DO E R R ON THIS.
HA!!!
IT IS THE CASE WHERE THE ENDOCRINE GLANDS OF MOM, ERROR OF HER BRAIN OR THE VERY GLANDS, SEND M O R E TESTOSTERONE THAN IS NEEDED, TO THE G I R L , THUS MAKING HER FUTURE L E S B I A N, OR L E S S THAN IS NEEDED TO A B O Y , THUS MAKING HIM FUTURE G A Y M A N .
BOTH H O M O S E X U A L S …
OR SOMETHING IN BETWEEN NORMAL AND HOMOSEXUAL, NORMAL BEING WHAT NATURE INTENDED WITH OUR BIOLOGICAL SEXES, OUR SEX DRIVE TO THE OPPOSITE SEX ONLY. AND NOT TO BOTH OR THE OPPOSITE OF OURS. THE I N T E N T I O N O F N A T U R E IS WHAT MAKES ONE NORMAL AND OTHER NOT.
IT IS EXACTLY THE SAME AS HAVING PERPLEXED PLACES OF AORTA, PULMONARY ARTERY OR OTHER SUCH IN THE HEART, SUCH ANATOMICAL ERROR MAKES SUCH BABY DIE SOON. AND THE CORRESPONDING ERROR IN NATURE MAKES THE PERSON NOT WILLING TO PRODUCE CHILDREN, WITH THE CONSEQUENCES BEING GROSS, COS IF WE ALL WERE SUCH, OUR SPECIES WOULD VANISH, DIE OFF. JUST AS THE INDIVIDUAL WITH ERRORS IN THEIR HEART. DEATH OF THE INDIVIDUAL AND DEATH OF THE SPECIES…
BUT, THERE ARE SEVERAL WAYS AND DEGREES THE ENDOCRINE GLANDS OF MOM, OR HER VERY BRAIN, ERR IN THIS ON THE EMBRYO IN UTERUS DEVELOPMENT OF ITS SEXUALITY. AS IS WITH THE HEART. I WAS BORN WITH ANATOMICAL ERRORS OF THE HEART, BUT I HAD THEM CORRECTED AND STILL LIVE, VERY MUCH SO. THE SAME WAY SOME LGB PEOPLE BECOME ‘T’ PEOPLE. SOME OTHER DON’T, FOR DIFFERENT REASONS.
THE MOMENT IT DOES, PROVIDING IT WILL ERR, IS CRUCIAL, AS IS THE ERRONEOUS AMOUNT OF THE HORMONE IN QUESTION, AS TO THE GREATNESS OF THE CONSEQUENCE OF THE ERROR OF NATURE, FULL GAY PERSON OR SOMETHING IN BETWEEN.
COS, SEXUALITY OF HUMANS ANY LIVING MAMMAL, IS TWO FOLD INDUCED. OF BODY AND OF BRAIN. AND BOTH DEVELOP THEIR FULL FUTURE ADULT SEXUALITY IN UTERUS, OF BODY AND BRAIN.
WE ARE BORN AS EITHER FEMALES, MALES, OR SOMETHING IN BETWEEN. BUT NATURE’S INTENTION IS TO FORM FEMALE OR MALES SEXUALLY DRIVEN TO THEIR OPPOSITES AND HAVING ACCORDINGLY BOTH FEMALE OR MALE BRAINS AND BODIES.
AND THIS IS WHEN AND WHERE MOM’S BRAIN, OR HER ENDOCRINE GLANDS MAY ERR. PROBABLY THE HER BRAIN, COS THE GLANDS ARE THE BRAINS SERVANTS, DOING WHAT THE BRAIN SAYS TO THEM TO DO. SO THEY WILL ERR WHEN THE BRAIN SENDS ERRONEOUS MESSAGE TO THEM.
NOBODY KNOWS WHY SOMETIMES FEMALE PREGNANT BRAIN ERRS IN COMMANDING HOW MUCH TESTOSTERONE TO SEND TO FEMALE OR MALE. LESS OR MORE. EVEN TO THE SAME SEX THE AMOUNT OF TESTOSTERONE SENT TO IT DIFFERS VERY MUCH.
MARILYN MONROE AND TOM BOY GIRL, THE LATER BEING MYSELF!
SEXUALLY WISE THE B O D Y OF THE EMBRYO FORMS, IE DEVELOPS, MUCH P R I O R AND MUCH EARLIER THAN SEXUAL BRAIN. AT THAT MOMENT, THE DIFFERENTIATION OF THE XY, IE MALE SEX, FROM THE XX, IE FEMALE SEX, THE GLANDS’ HAVING SENT L E S S TESTOSTERONE TO M A L E S , OR M O R E , TO F E M A L E S EMBRYOS, WILL MAKE THE BODY OF THE FUTURE PERSON LESS FEMALE, LESBIAN, AND POSSIBLY WITH MORE LIKE MALE BODY, AND LESS MALE, RESEMBLING FEMALE BODY, BUT NO BREASTS.
THESE PEOPLE STILL HAVE A CHANCE FOR THEIR BRAIN TO DEVELOP NORMALLY, ACCORDING TO THEIR BIOLOGICAL SEX, THOU THEY LOOK LESS FEMININE WOMEN OR LESS MASCULINE MEN, I F, AND PROVIDING MOM’S GLANDS, OR IT IS PROBABLY HER VERY BRAIN, DOES NOT MAKE ANOTHER MISTAKE, ERR ON THE SIDE OF THE BRAIN OF THE EMBRYO IN UTERUS, WHEN TIME COMES FOR THE EMBRYO’S BRAIN TO DEVELOP ITS SEXUALITY, FEMALE OR MALE, OR SOMETHING IN BETWEEN.
WHEN THE EMBRYO’S BRAIN HAS BEEN DEVELOPED ENOUGH TO NEED TESTOSTERONE TO MAKE IT EITHER FEMALE OR MALE, REGARDLESS OF WHAT THE WRONG OR RIGHT QUANTITY OF TESTOSTERONE HAD MADE OF THE EMBRYO’S BODY PRIOR TO THIS MOMENT…MOM’S BRAIN WILL, AGAIN, ORDER, FOR THE SECOND TIME, TO HER ENDOCRINE GLANDS TO PRODUCE THE NECESSARY, NEEDED, WANTED OF TESTOSTERONE, AMOUNT FOR THE SEX OF THE EMBRYO OF BRAIN AND WHEN THEY SEND IT, NOW, TO THE EMBRYO’S BRAIN, TO MAKE IT DEVELOP INTO FEMALE OR MALE BODY, ACCORDING TO ITS BIOLOGICAL SEX ALREADY FORMED BY THE SAME PROCEDURE.
THE DOINGS OF THE TESTOSTERONE.
IF THE AMOUNT OF THE TESTOSTERONE SENT TO THE BRAIN OF GIRL OR BOY, IS WITHIN NORMAL RANGE OF FEMALE AND MALE SEXUAL BRAINS, THEN THE PERSON WILL BE NORMAL, NORMAL REGARDING THE TARGET OF THEIR SEXUAL DRIVE, FEMALE OR MALE, REGARDLESS OF WHAT THE BODY HAD BEEN FORMED LIKE, NORMAL IN PHYSICAL WAY, OR DIVERGING THE SAME SEX.
AS THE RESULT WE WILL HAVE AS BABY BORN WITH
FULLY FEMALE IN BOTH BODY AND BRAIN
FULLY MALE IN BODY AND BRAIN
FULLY FEMALE IN BRAIN BUT A LITTLE OR MORE MASCULINE IN BODY
FULLY FEMININE IN BODY BUT MASCULINE IN BRAIN
AND ALL SORTS OF IN BETWEENS, TO THE POINT OF GENITALLY FULLY MASCULINE BRAINS WITH FEMALE BODIES AND FULLY FEMININE BRAINS WITH MALE BODIES.
DEPENDING ON THE MOMENT, THE TIMING, OF THE ERROR, BODY OR BRAIN, AND THE ERRONEOUS AMOUNT OF TESTOSTERONE SENT TO THE BODY AND/OR BRAIN OF THE EMBRYO, WE WILL HAVE FULL BLOWN LGB OR SOMETHING IN BETWEEN THEM AND NORMALLY SEXUALLY ORGANIZED PEOPLE BOTH IN BODY AND BRAIN.
AND EVEN THEY, THE SO CALLED SEXUALLY NORMAL PEOPLE DIFFER IN THE STRENGTH OF THEIR SEXUALITY, DEPENDING ON THE AMOUNT OF THE TESTOSTERONE HAVING BEEN SENT BY THE ENDOCRINE GLANDS OF THEIR MOM DURING UTERINE DEVELOPMENT OF THE EMBRYO, SOME MORE SEXUAL, SOME LESS SO, SOME INCLINED A LITTLE, OR NOT SO LITTLE, TO THE SAME SEX, WITHOUT BEING LGB, SOME NOT AT ALL. ALL SORTS OF POSSIBILITIES, JUST AS IS OUR LOOKS AND CHARACTERS.
FURTHER HAPPENINGS TO THE BABY AFTER ITS BIRTH CANNOT CHANGE ANYTHING IN THIS. NO PARENTAL OR SOCIAL INFLUENCES PAY ROLE. IT’S INBORN, END OF STORY, BUT NOT GENETIC, IT’S WHAT IT HAS BEEN BORN WITH DUE TO THE DOINGS OF MOM’S BODY, NOT THE GENES OF THE EMBRYO, DUE TO RIGHT OR WRONG QUANTITIES OF TESTOSTERONE IN TWO OCCASIONS IN EMBRYO STATE, RIGHT OR WRONG, FOR BODY AND LATER FOR BRAIN. THE DAMAGE MAY BE SMALL, LIKE FEMALES HAVING SOMETHING OF MALES, LIKE MORE NARROW HIPS AND LARGER LOGIC, LIKE MYSELF, BUT NORMAL SEX DRIVE TOWARDS MALES ONLY AND EXCLUSIVELY, OR LARGER, THE DAMAGE I MEAN, TO THE SAD POINT WHEN A GENETIC MAN OR WOMEN HAS MALE BODY AND FEMALE BRAIN, OR VICE VERSA.
If the problem is not simply a choice problem, but an broken one, or that of one where the person was not fully done referring to that of a software installation, then why is it that some people prey on children, or seek to satisfy themselves with animals. Why is it that some need to get their kicks by beating or being beaten. Why is it that so many develop fetches. And finally why is it that many of these people grow out of the ” wrong ” ways. It used to be that we just told our children who had a leaning to what was not natural that it wasn’t right and that was enough. Now, with so many learned and educated folk who would sooner quit their jobs before they would think about telling someone that their feelings of being God or some animal was not natural, but who would not bat an eye before counselling a client that their feelings of homosexuallity were not something to be corrected. Misguided parents now, instead of steering their children into what is obvious, now instead encourage them from just one or two actions, like them playing with dolls, or standing in front of a mirror too long. Instead of consulting the Book that has been shown to be of endless value down through time. The Bible. It has rendered it’s wisdom, and man should follow suit. Homosesuality, is a nature problem, I agree. But it is one of the sin nature problem, not merely a human nature problem. So, just as we all agree, ” I hope ” that the seeking of rolling around in the covers with some sheep or a horse is not natural, or that some man getting his thrills off by beating some helpless person before satisfying himself, or some poor disarranged man who would beguile and abuse some child to be sexually satisfied, is not natural, then why shouldn’t we continually let those of the homosexual community, that what they believe is right, is not. I’m not saying that they should be persecuted, or tortured, or killed, My God, how horrible, but so human, this is so inhumane of us. But these are just as much detrimental to their health and wellbeing as that of drugs and alcoholism. These practices, would prevent us from reaching all we should be. And obtaining all that God would desire us to receive.
We all have practices that we need to relinquish. Some of them are not as noticeable, and can be hidden, like that of being prejudices. Or hatred. It, can not only be hidden, but in most cases it is dismissed. But, if is allowed to fester, it brings irreparable harm to that soul. So too, these ways that many seek to be satisfied. And if we continue to encourage these poor souls into following these wrong tendencies, we will be judged in the end also
But there is no god, so why do you bore us about it, and what’s more, why do you believe something that is an error of nature is a sin?!
Gerald writes: [So, just as we all agree, ” I hope ” that the seeking of rolling around in the covers with some sheep or a horse is not natural, or that some man getting his thrills off by beating some helpless person before satisfying himself, or some poor disarranged man who would beguile and abuse some child to be sexually satisfied, is not natural, then why shouldn’t we continually let those of the homosexual community, that what they believe is right, is not.]
You are lumping everything together that, in your personal opinion, is wrong. You lack context.
Any activity that infringes on the rights of another is considered wrong by the generally accepted definition of human rights. So assault and battery of people, or molesting children (who do not have the mental capability to give consent for such actions) is deemed wrong by society and is also illegal under the law. There are also laws against things like beastiality.
If two consenting adults want to engage in an activity, regardless of the gender of each of them, and as long as that activity doesn’t infringe on the rights of anyone else, then that is their business. You may not like it, and you have every right NOT to engage in it. You do not have the right to tell them they can’t do it though. You don’t get to do that. We live under a secular Bill of Rights that does not promote any particular religious or dogmatic belief system, so your moral authority only applies to your life and no one else’s.