12 upvotes, 4 direct replies (showing 4)
View submission: Do non-binary identities reenforce gender stereotypes?
I've thought about this a lot. In a lot of ways, I relate to the argument of gender being not just a purposeless social construct, but also a harmful one. However, since it obviously means so much to people, arguing that it shouldn't exist is the same as saying "I don't see race! I'm color blind!" which is just another way of invalidating people's experiences in a racist fashion. Race is also a purposeless, harmful social construct to me, just like gender, but it's here to stay.
Comment by Agreeable_Tennis_482 at 13/01/2025 at 11:34 UTC
3 upvotes, 2 direct replies
True but nonbinary label specifically is a newer concept that OP is suggesting may actually be causing gender discourse to regress further into gender essentialism when the goal should be to get closer to reducing the meaning of gender even if we can't completely get rid of it. If you want to use race as an example, it would be like keeping race as a loose indicator of where your ancestors came from and maybe your genetic predisposition to some health conditions, but completely divorcing it from any relevance to people's personalities or cultures. Nonbinary just reinforces that gender is something innate and natural. When actually masculinity and femininity are completely socially constructed and nonbinary just accepts the former 2's validity and makes a third separate category instead of questioning why we have the categories in the first place. I would rather that everyone could dress and present themselves however they wanted without it having to come from some "innate" gender identity which doesn't actually exist.
Comment by hereforthesportsball at 13/01/2025 at 12:31 UTC
1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Race is a social construct yes but big difference between saying you don’t see race and identifying yourself as a new race because the race ascribed to you socially doesn’t line up with what’s inside. A couple people were famously ridiculed for that
Comment by Super-Revolution-433 at 13/01/2025 at 13:46 UTC
1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
But accepting somethings harmful and nonsensical because other people like it is stupid. Why live your life wrong because other people are wrong?
Comment by seetfniffer at 13/01/2025 at 19:32 UTC
1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Its not here to stay, its a product of privatised ownership of the means of production. A product of class society.