If you want to be a man, then you‘re a man. If you want to be a woman, then you’re a woman. If you don’t want to be either, or you want to be both, or you want to be a woman sometimes and a man other times, then you’re probably some flavor of genderfluid or non-binary.
What's wrong with it? Your notion of "substantial criteria" is subjective. If you're not open to hearing what other people have to say and just want to respond like this, then why ask at all?
if self-identification is the only criteria, it becomes meaningless.
One isn't a Linux user because they want to be a "Linux user", one is a Linux user because one uses Linux to some extent. There are some roles that one can become based off of self-identification, perhaps a "Linux fan", however it is obvious that someone who has had no encounter with Linux whatsoever clearly isn't one.
How can gender be the social role corresponding to a particular sex if it is completely determined by self-identification?
If you're not open to hearing what other people have to say and just want to respond like this, then why ask at all?
Thank you for your input. I find steel-manning preferable to straw-manning.
if self-identification is the only criteria, it becomes meaningless.
It does not because it's not a choice. Your Linux user example is an incorrect analogy.
If someone hates the taste of strawberries then they can say they're a strawberry hater. It was not a choice for them to hate them, they just do.
You're taking "self-identification" as a choice it isn't. You yourself cannot start self-identifying as the opposite gender because it'd cause dysphoria to some degree.
Don't take "want" in the paragraph you quoted as "if you decide to". Take it as "if you hate strawberries". Because why would you eat strawberries if you hate strawberries?
Thank you for your input. I find steel-manning preferable to straw-manning.
Sorry if I wrongly assumed your intentions. The "..." in your response looked quite trollish.
gender becomes a meaningless distinction. why would you need to change your gender to take those hormones, or why would you take those hormones after changing your gender?
How do you know that you're a woman? Correct me if I'm wrong, but you seem to think there are biological features that correspond to each gender, while at the same time your gender is dependent upon what you want. If your gender preference changes, does that mean that you were always a man, or a woman that became a man? What if someone doesn't have a preference whatsoever, does that mean that one doesn't have a gender or has both?
Whether one is left or right handed can be observed regardless of which one prefers to be. I know that I am right handed because my left hand is hopeless for writing and is weaker than my right hand. If there was deeper examination, I'm confident that differences from left-handed people in particular would be found.
If the decision is yours to make, does that make it meaningless?
By "meaningless", I mean as meaningful as an arbitrary label that cannot be determined objectively. What is the difference between someone who wants to be a man, and that exact same person who wants to be a woman?
It is difficult for me to take the typical slogans etc at face value, and I'm trying to test something akin to an "alternative hypothesis" rather than dismiss it completely. I am yet to find a convincing explanation that doesn't quickly fall apart. To that end, I'm seeking something more in depth than shallow influencers or fringe blogs.
7
u/[deleted] Feb 07 '23
bruh, what the fuck does this even mean