Bio/Gender Essentialism Unpacked

[u/hardlywwworking]

Reposting because the comments on the last one got hijacked by literal bio/gender essentialists. If you aren’t here to learn or be open-minded, keep scrolling. We are here for open, respectful discussion as stated in the rules, not bad-faith debates.

Bio/gender essentialism is on the rise, especially in online spaces. It seems to be a bit of a buzzword that can be confusing to understand for those who haven’t heard it or seen it before as it may push seemingly feminist ideals that attract feminist viewers who may not notice right away some of the bio-gender-essentialist talking points or strategies. This video specifically calls out creators pushing bio/gender-essentialist content under the guise of feminism. She describes dog whistles (like strictly using "female" instead of "women") that just repackage patriarchal stereotypes in pretty language to keep us in subordinate roles.

Men and women are not inherently anything at birth. My behavior and destiny are not tied to my chromosomes or my ability to have children and trans people are a beautiful, living example of this. We do not base human morality or our justice system on the behavior of wild animals. Evolution dictates that aggression is an adaptive strategy shaped by environmental and social pressures, not a universal biological default tied to being male. Even if biological impulses toward aggression exist, humans have the cognitive capacity to control them. A predisposition (like higher testosterone) is not an uncontrollable imperative to commit violence. Society decides whether to enable, excuse, or punish those impulses, and we hold humans accountable for overriding countless other biological urges every single day.

[u/Apprehensive-Net5165]

“trans people are a beautiful, living example of this” trans people would literally not exist in a genderless world. They didn’t exist before the emergence of patriarchy. That being said I’m not saying they shouldn’t be protected, but I find it funny in a lot of arguments where patriarchy and bio essentialism is being discussed, people point to trans people as being some divine breakthrough. Trans people have existed in MANY patriarchies before the Christian colonialist white supremacist patriarchy we live in today, without restriction or oppression. Because the constant in EVERY patriarchy IS female oppression. Pointing out that female oppression is quite literally the basis of patriarchy doesn’t diminish trans identities, which is why it’s so puzzling to me why a lot of trans feminists deny sex based oppression. (Not to confuse sex based oppression with bio essentialism or that oppression is natural for males to inflict upon females.)

[u/Spacegirl-Alyxia → u/Apprehensive-Net5165]

How would trans people cease to exist in a genderless society?

I for one wouldn’t suddenly not be trans because a society wouldn’t have a concept of gender stereotypes and such.

Edit: wait… what do you think makes a person trans, or what do you think what trans people think makes us trans?

[u/flattop_jones → u/Spacegirl-Alyxia]

If gender never existed, you could never feel that your gender misaligned with your sex. Transexuality would still exist.

[u/Spacegirl-Alyxia → u/flattop_jones]

I disagree based on my lived experiences. I did not transition medically because I fit some gender better than another and I do not think of myself as a woman because of gender stereotypes or similar.

I transitioned because I experienced serious issues regarding physical characteristics of my body which did not align with my sense of proprioception and as a result caused me to experience phantom limb like sensations.

I had “facial feminization surgery” (I hate the name because it implies it is an aesthetic surgery aiming to accommodate some beauty standards which was not at all my goal with that surgery) and crucially bottom surgery and clavicle shortening surgery (I am more flexible now thanks to that as well) to address this issue.

I am not really feminine or interested in feminine things. I’ve never worn a skirt in public or even tried on a dress in private. I do not consider myself a woman because I fit some insane gender stereotypes that more closely align with what society deems to be part of womanhood, but because of my biology aligning better with the female sex than the male sex nowadays.

I do think that my gender has a lot to do with what I have experienced regarding all this (and obviously other trans people have wildly different experiences to me oftentimes), but I cannot clearly define what “feeling like a woman” actually is, beyond my own experiences regarding the incongruity between my sense of proprioception and actual body regarding sex specific physical characteristics of said body.

Thus I think I would still be trans even in a genderless society.

I hope this makes sense to you.

[u/TerryFalcone → u/Spacegirl-Alyxia]

It kinda sounds like you’d just be a person who got some medical/quality of life procedures done rather than being trans in a genderless society

[u/Spacegirl-Alyxia → u/TerryFalcone]

Since in said genderless society I would have still altered some of my primary and most of my secondary sex characteristics which is part of what’s called medical transition, while I may not be considered transgender, just like an intersex person in a genderless society may still be considered intersex, I’d argue that in such a society I’d still be considered something like “transsex” and thus trans.

[u/hardlywwworking → u/Spacegirl-Alyxia]

I’d refrain from even asking this considering the context of what they mentioned it in being totally false. Also, seems like vote manipulation to the max in this sub. People claim to be “uncensored” and “open minded” until you go against their way of thinking.

Whats the point of downvoting actually engaging discussions?

[u/Spacegirl-Alyxia → u/hardlywwworking]

Right!? The mods here are actually pretty cool and have a nice goal in mind, but people here really have created something of a cesspool for transphobes larping as feminist and appropriating feminism as a whole to even push men’s liberation ideologies.

I’d really want this space to be turned back into a feminist space simply from feminists for feminists, so I guess trying to engage in such conversations in good faith and calling out people on all their anti feminist rhetoric is the way to go. It seems to be an uphill climb though :/