"Gender is a social construct"
In a way. Gender is a representation of the traditional behavior of a particular sex, and although this differs by region there are underlying similarities between societies.
There are many biological differences between men and women which make them unique, both physically and mentally. That doesn’t mean one gender/sex is better than the other; it just means they’re different and can be recognized as such by medical professionals. Examples below:
- Hjernevask
- Sex is a major determinant of neuronal dysfunction in neurofibromatosis type 1 (2)
- http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/battle-sexes-men-drivers-women-dyehard-science/story?id=13841063&singlePage=true
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/1796447.stm
- http://www.bloodalcohol.info/alcohol-in-men-versus-women.php
- http://www.careerpioneernetwork.org/wwwroot/userfiles/files/the_gender_similarities_hypothesis.pdf
- http://www.everydayhealth.com/pain-management/women-and-chronic-pain.aspx
- http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-10/cp-maf100814.php
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19016318
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24382196
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9041858
- http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/24/science/researchers-see-new-importance-for-y-chromosome.html?_r=1
- http://www.parenting.com/article/real-difference-between-boys-and-girls
- http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-scientific-fundamentalist/200804/why-do-boys-and-girls-prefer-different-toys
- http://www.theguardian.com/politics/reality-check-with-polly-curtis/2011/dec/13/women-children
- http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/26455.aspx
- http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/27169.aspx
- http://hagakura.tumblr.com/post/76605314244
Opponents of gender roles agree that there is some biological basis early in life. “You may have an inclination toward one kind of behavior, but if you’re in a society that pushes that type of behavior, you’re far more likely to exhibit it.” — Caryl Rivers, who is wrong about how “boys and girls don’t learn differently.” There are social and biological reasons why they don't learn the same, and here are a few links about that and sex differences in the brain:
- greatschools.org/students/academic-skills/1121-gender-differences-learning.gs
- independent.co.uk/life-style/8978248.html
- nytimes.com/2006/07/09/education/09college.html
- m.pnas.org/content/early/2013/11/27/1316909110.abstract
- rd.com/advice/how-boys-and-girls-learn-differently/
- sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080303120346.htm
- link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10508-008-9380-7
- ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2711771/
- theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/may/03/biology-sexist-gender-stereotypes
- ideas.time.com/2013/10/28/what-schools-can-do-to-help-boys-succeed/
- news.uga.edu/releases/article/why-girls-do-better-in-school-010212/
- uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/12/verma/
- usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2003-08-28-our-view_x.htm
- webmd.com/parenting/features/how-boys-and-girls-learn-differently
In 2009, David Geary, a University of Missouri psychologist, published the second edition of Male, Female: The Evolution of Human Sex Differences. This comprehensive book includes more than 50 pages of footnotes citing studies by neuroscientists, endocrinologists, geneticists, anthropologists, and psychologists showing a strong biological basis for many gender differences. And, as Geary told Dr. Christina Hoff Sommers, “One of the largest and most persistent differences between the sexes is children’s play preferences.”
For me to finish reading later: excerpt from Language and Gender. Second Edition
It's possible that gender is a form of emotion.
While gender is somewhat ambiguous, a person's sex is not a social construct. Here's a summary of sex: born with a penis = assigned male. Born with with a vagina = assigned female. Born with genitals that don't allow for a clear 'male' or 'female' categorization = assigned intersex. After that we get into things like dysphoria, forms of Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD), Gender Identity Disorder (GID), and the transgender + transsexual categories. Gender is far more complicated than physical sex but based inherently on biological classifications.
Sex reassignment alone may not help trans individuals due to mental factors. Dr. Paul R. McHugh, the former psychiatrist-in-chief for Johns Hopkins Hospital, says sex reassignment is wrong and "transgenderism is a mental disorder" - statements which conflict with other studies. He claims people "outgrow" wanting to transition, yet so far we know that regret about transitioning is atypical (2).
Dysphoria is faced by trans people and dysmorphia is faced by cis people. [x] "Gender/sex dysphoria (meaning the disconnect between your physical body and your gender/how your brain views your body or believes your body should be) is exclusive to trans folk. The dysphoria sometimes experienced by cis folk is not the same as the dysphoria experienced by trans folk."
Various bits of info: