#meaning is constructed socially

[belugalord]

Also worth asking here who decides which surgeries are purely cosmetic. Like, people will get plastic surgery after a really bad burn to try to cover up the scar, which can decrease skin irritation. People get “cosmetic” breast surgery in order to decrease back pain. People have many reasons to get surgery, the human experience is vast, but have you never put on makeup just to feel pretty?

I think the straight up worst take on gender abolitionism by far is like "in the gender abolitionist utopia nobody would feel the need to transition medically"

Fuck you. That's completely backwards. True gender abolition can't be achieved without total bodily autonomy and genuine freedom to have whichever bodies we want.

The suggested "utopia" here is just a cisnormative one where you're not allowed to accurately name it as such.

[thriftdyke]

it really does bother me how no one can seem to answer the question “what even is romantic attraction, really.” like some people are like “it’s who you wanna kiss and cuddle <3” and I’m like ok well kisses and cuddles can be either sexual or platonic depending on context. “It’s who you feel passion/desire/arousal for” well that just sounds like sexual attraction which you can have without even knowing somebody so I fail to see how that’s romantic. “It’s who you want to go on dates with” I go on dates with friends all the time plus “date” is a social construct anyway there’s really no innate difference between a date and hanging out. “it’s who you have deep feelings for” great news for you that can be literally any type of relationship. my friend told me she defined it as “who you wanna give roses to” and I’m like do u hear urself??? like the more I talk to people the more I’m convinced romance and romantic attraction is an elaborate socially fabricated illusion that has no real defining characteristics. and like there’s nothing Wrong with it being a constuct but why people are so attached to defending the supremacy of it is something I cannot for the life of me figure out

[kosher-salt]

I'm sorry but if Sami people can be understood as other-than-white and lighter featured First Nations people can be understood as other-than-white and individuals of our sisters the Romani when similarly afflicted by melanin deficiency can be understood as other-than-white....

Your classification of Jews, who span the whole gamut of color but share the racialization and experience of being othered among any majority, including whiteness in the north/west, is only further evidence of your racism. Because in doing so you continue to perpetuate double standards for Jewish people, which is dangerous when merged with perspectives that view whiteness as a merit signifier. Not that our identity isn't a fair bit older than this pretty reductive view, but

Regardless, I'll remind that the minority indigenous groups I mentioned are in the context of a white majority, but white people do not have a monopoly on colonialism. Plenty of people don't want to be called Arab in MENA and plenty of people aren't sure that they'd classify themselves as Chinese or Russian in the sense that the West views national identity. But that kind of nuance probably isn't something I should bother with if we haven't made it past point 1.

[ivan-fyodorovich-k]

we need to take away "is a social construct" because it's just not useful anymore

everything is a social construct, once upon a time we would call these things "customs" or "traditions" or "laws," and this is just how humans behave

[tinkerbitch69]

I gotta say, as a trans woman, seeing misaki in terminator zero, an a.i. that described herself upon creation as ‘neither male or female’ actively choose to be a woman and ask to be considered as one cuz she felt like it aligned more with her idea of who she is or at least would like to become was so validating, especially in an online climate of ‘gender is bullshit and made up therefore it doesn’t matter’ 🥹

[aalexan]

sometimes I wonder if the gendies ever just get tired…like the genderfluid ones I could not imagine how exhausting it would be to choose a new identity for myself like everyday and then have to inform people of it 😭 I seriously doubt any of them are actually happy in these complex ‘identities’ they’ve made for themselves

[childrensrightsrehumanrights]

If you aren't prepared to have a disabled child you aren't prepared to have a child. If you would be greatly disappointed by having a child with certain traits, gender, ability, appearance, you are not ready to have a child.

A child is an individual you are ready to guide and care for, for the rest of your life. A child is not a customisable accessory.

Most people will become disabled in their lifetime.

Your child can be born able bodied and then be diagnosed with autism. Your child can have chronic pain from a back injury playing sports as a teenager.

And if you have an ableist or otherwise oppressive mindset, your child could have a trauma disorder or mental illness.

Your child is not a character you're customising to be how you want them to be. They are a human being you are building a parent-child relationship with. This is a person separate from you, even if you created them.

And if you are not willing to accept any child of your own as they are, you are not ready to be a parent.

Your children deserve acceptance and unconditional love, you can't add on conditions.

[medufasa]

Yeah I'm sad to admit it but yes I am officially coming out as a McLennon stan I'm so sorry

[florallylly]

steve harrington so used to people's eyes on him, doesn't notice when someone is watching him OR hyper vigilant but also really good at reading people, knows eddie has been sneaking peeks at him from behind his textbook

[mxtxfanatic]

There’s something to be said about how gender is weaponized in tgcf. Like, the gods can transform between different physical genders, but their powers aren’t divided into “girl weak, boy strong.” Ling Wen is more powerful in her male form because her followers worship her as a male god. The Brocade Immortal forces her into her male form when she wears it not because that affords it more martial skill and power but because it can’t handle being pressed against the female form of the woman it loves. Shi Qingxuan is the opposite: his female form is more powerful because he is worshipped as a female god, and he enjoys that. The gods go between their forms depending on which one brings the most benefit, making gender into a weapon.

Then we have Xie Lian who, though never physically transforming into a female form, repeatedly and successfully uses people’s gender assumptions as a shield. He makes himself into a bride as to not use an innocent civilian as bait to catch a ghost, and he later disguises himself as a mother to hide from the crowd of cultivators. Because his enemies in both cases perceived women as weak and fragile, the ghost bride did not think to see if Xie Lian was a threat, and the cultivators were embarrassed at having barged in on a “defenseless woman” dressing with her “child.” The shield of “woman” allowed Xie Lian to fool his enemies and complete his goals in both cases.

Anyways, just thought this was cool.

[wanderingcritter]

Poll time! :3 Interested in hearing community thoughts on this

[disasterhimbo]

The difference between day clothes and night clothes is made up btw. You can do whatever you want forever

[menlove]

okay actually no I'm NOT done bc so many people on here will hear someone say "men are an oppressive class who hold social power and privilege" and SCREAM bioessentialism but literally no part of that is bioessentialism in fact it's LITERALLY the opposite. like no men ARENT biologically oppressive and evil or whatever. they aren't biologically superior or stronger or more violent or anything. SOCIETY put them in a position of power and based all our gender norms around that. this is such basic shit it's actually exhausting.

everyone wants to parrot "gender is a social construct" until you actually start talking about what that means and who that construct is benefitting and why

[divinekangaroo]

there is a thing in how Steven Knight wrote the format for 'Who Wants to Be A Millionaire' and also this upwardly-rising social mobility thing with Tommy; yet inherent in both is an utter humiliation and mortification of the one who wants to be that millionaire (because of their fundamental IGNORANCE which will be found out at some point)

your aspirations become the visual and mental fodder of those who know their place (that place of the voyeur as above or below is irrelevant, but woe to the one who attempts to rise out of their place)

[knifearo]

guy who says he's "going through a rough patch with love" but he means his relationship with the concept of love itself

[agnesandhilda]

the superhero genre as a whole is full of male characters who are unusual in how explicitly they're meant to represent hegemonic masculinity (side effect of the superhero genre being fundamentally based around empowerment fantasies) but homelander is really in a class of his own