It bothers me to see how many people are saying stuff like “I thought Bill Nye was supposed to be the science guy, he’s buying into this SJW cuck libtard stuff! Science says there are only two genders!” in response to Bill Nye covering gender and sexuality on Bill Nye Saves the World.
…Like, did they even listen to what he said? Have they read any peer-reviewed literature about the subject? Is their understanding of “gender” limited to a middle school understanding of X and Y chromosomes? Bill Nye addressed chromosomes, hormones, genitalia and secondary sex characteristics when talking about how some of us don’t fit into the male/female sex dichotomy, and brought up psychology and neuroscience when talking about gender and its difference from sex, and also sexuality. The actual science of sex, gender and sexuality across the animal kingdom and across human behaviour is far more interesting than “lol nope science says there are only two genders.”
It honestly makes me angry when people say “lol I thought this was about science” whenever a scientist says something about topics like gender, sexuality, climate change or evolution that annoys someone. You can’t just pretend science is on your side when your understanding of science is based on a grade school textbook.
Also, why is it only gender people seem to have a problem with? Yeah, basic school textbooks will talk about XX and XY chromosomes and the male and female reproductive system, but they’ll also talk about how humans have five fingers on each hand and how the eye works when everyone knows some humans are born with six fingers on each hand or born blind. Textbooks will talk about how our body metabolises fats, but nobody would say “lol no sorry science says otherwise” at someone (like one of my secondary school classmates) who had a rare disorder who couldn’t metabolise fats. We accept that sweeping statements about human biology are generalisations. Sure, there are limits - no humans have wings or feathers, that would go against science - but we all accept some level of human diversity outside the basic-level textbooks - diversity that’s described well in the advanced medical textbooks. So why is it people only apply this logic to gender and not other differences in human biology?
I think part of it could be the backlash against postmodern nonsense which suggests everything is opinion and science is no more objective than art, which is a blatantly anti-science attitude. But the idea that sex, gender and sexuality aren’t totally binary isn’t just postmodern gender theory, it’s actual science with empirical evidence to back it up.
He has a bachelor’s degree in science, he is barely qualified, and none if the stuff he said is backed up so :)
Bill Nye has a bachelor’s degree, sure. He’s not a scientist. He’s spent a lifetime studying and explaining science, though. To say he’s “barely qualified” is a bit of an insult to him, don’t you think? In any case, it’s irrelevant. Bill Nye isn’t an expert on the neuroscience or psychology of gender, and that’s not his job. He’s a science communicator - his job is to explain the science as best as he can and get people interested so they can look further into it. (Note that nobody calls Bill Nye “barely qualified” when he talks about non-controversial subjects like planetary science or chemistry, even though he isn’t an expert in those fields either.) So let’s see what the actual experts say, shall we?
Sex:
Blackless, Melanie; Charuvastra, Anthony; Derryck, Amanda; Fausto-Sterling, Anne; Lauzanne, Karl; Lee, Ellen (2000). “How sexually dimorphic are we? Review and synthesis”. Am J Hum Biol. 12 (2): 151–166.
A list of intersex conditions and their frequency: http://www.isna.org/faq/conditions
The WHO’s page on gender and genetics: http://www.who.int/genomics/gender/en/index1.html
Disorders of Sex Development with Testicular Differentiation in SRY-Negative 46,XX Individuals: Clinical and Genetic Aspects. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27055195
Human sex-determination and disorders of sex-development (DSD). http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26526145
Gender identity:
Neurological basis for transgender identity, showing that certain brain structures that tend to vary in males and females tend to be correlated with someone’s gender identity rather than their biological sex:
Gizewski, E. R.; Krause, E.; Schlamann, M.; Happich, F.; Ladd, M. E.; Forsting, M.; Senf, W. (2009). “Specific cerebral activation due to visual erotic stimuli in male-to-female transsexuals compared with male and female controls: An fMRI study”. Journal of Sexual Medicine. 6: 440–448
Savic, I.; Arver, S. (2011). “Sex dimorphism of the brain in male-to-female transsexuals”. Cerebral Cortex. 21: 2525–2533
Rametti, G.; Carrillo, B.; Gómez-Gil, E.; Junque, C.; Zubiarre-Elorza, L.; Segovia, S.; Gomez, Á; Guillamon, A. (2011). “White matter microstructure in female to male transsexuals before cross-sex hormonal treatment. A diffusion tensor imaging study”. Journal of Psychiatric Research. 45: 199–204.
Luders, Eileen; Sánchez, Francisco J.; Gaser, Christian; Toga, Arthur W.; Narr, Katherine L.; Hamilton, Liberty S.; Vilain, Eric (2009). “Regional gray matter variation in male-to-female transsexualism”. NeuroImage. 46 (4): 904–7.
Nature. 1995;378:68–70.
“A sex difference in the human brain and its relation to transsexuality.”I’ve limited myself to scientific and medical sites here, but note also that the concept of gender (as opposed to sex) is deeply rooted in cultural ideas and even language as well as biological and psychological ones, so when it comes to gender, looking at culture and society is just as important as looking at science. And there we see that while every culture does link sex with gender and includes “male” and “female” gender categories, a great number of different cultures have had gender categories beyond that. That suggests that gender is linked to sex but by no means the same! You can find out more about that in the video I linked. (And no, I don’t think “attack helicopter” or “galaxy” is a real gender. But that doesn’t mean “non-binary,” “genderfluid” or “agender” isn’t, since those terms can be defined by their relation to being psychologically or culturally male or female. They’re “linked to sex, but not the same” as I described earlier.)
The vast majority of people fall close to one of two ends of the sex or gender spectrum, and there are good biological reasons for that. But it’s also an undisputed fact that various people do not fit exactly into the male or female sex category biologically and many more people don’t fit exactly into the male or female gender category psychologically. Just because these are a small minority of people doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Just because most of our physical or neurological traits cluster close to one end or another of the spectrum doesn’t mean the spectrum - and anyone in the middle of it - doesn’t exist.
Like I said earlier, any simple science textbook will tell you that humans have five fingers on each hand, but everyone knows that some humans are born with six fingers. When we say humans are one of two sexes and that sex matches a psychological phenomenon called gender, we understand that that applies to the majority of human individuals, the same way we understand that saying humans have five fingers on each hand or two kidneys does. Why is it that we can accept the existence of people whose number of fingers or kidneys or other details of their anatomy doesn’t match the average, yet people who don’t fit into the extreme ends of the sex or gender spectrum have their existence denied?
as is to be expected, the Anti-SJW turn out to be Anti-Science whenever the science disagrees with them. Its really weird considering a lot of them come from the former skeptic community and spent a long time working against creationism and intelligent design. Turns out none of that seems to have been on principle and trying to produce a greater and broader understanding of the world, its just they have their own dogmas and so long as they get to shout someone down, they’ll do it to anyone. They don’t care about being right, they care about looking smart.
Saying that man and woman are the only genders is actually LESS nuanced than saying that earth, water, air, and fire are the only elements.
This is fantastic.
There is no sharp division between male and female brains, according to researchers who found that we are all a mixture instead.
Anonymous:
hi. i'm genderfluid, and if i came out, i don't think my dad or brother would be accepting of it. they would probably think it's made up, and that i just want to be different. is there any scientific proof i can throw in their faces?
first, mini science lesson:
unfortunately there is about as much “scientific proof” of genderfluidity as there is for transgender people, which is not much and highly debatable. We still don’t know what causes any non-cisgender gender identities.
there is no reliable way to determine between a male and female gendered brains. some trans people say there is DEFINITELY, LAB-TESTED EVIDENCE that trans people have the physical brain structure of their identified gender. these tests did occur but were later discredited. this is because it isn’t even so easy to determine between cisgender brains.
The differences that have been found can more ascribed to nurture than nature - women are expected to act and think a certain way by societal demand, so they develop things like multi-tasking and stuff like that. they are more likely to go into certain careers because of societal misogyny, so they develop brain patterns reflective of those feminine-coded careers.
the question is, what would make a person who was socially directed in one direction, instead identify with the directions put towards another gender? i have yet to find a unanimous answer, although people speculate many different reasons including hormone exposer in utero, the variety of gender experiences is too great to really peg down one specific cause.
if a trans person transitioned and went on to live their life stealth they would probably develop brain structures more common in their identified gender, because of the way society grooms people for gender performance in every aspect of their lives.
about 10% of transgender people and 30% of cisgender-identified people say that they have a gender identity that is either neither male nor female, somewhere in-between, or something different completely. keep in mind that 10% of trans people and 30% of cis people doesn’t add up to 40%, it’s still about 30% of people.
however, none of this is what you want to hear. so I will move on to…
mini psychology lesson:
the DSM model for treatment of transgender people is basically that you must experience gender dysphoria to get physical treatment for it. which makes sense, as it would be negligent to prescribe HRT or gender affirming surgery to someone who is fine with the body they’re in. gender dysphoria is characterized by:
- a strong, persistent identification with another gender
- a strong, persistent dissociation from ones assigned gender and role
-a strong, persistent dissociation with ones assigned physical sex characteristics*
*although obviously lots of nonbinary people dont have physical dysphoria, which is why they dont physically transition.
the good news is that the WPATH standards of care, which is the international standard for medical treatment of transgender people, has included nonbinary and genderqueer identities since 2011. this means that nonbinary people, although not understood, are medically and psychologically recognized internationally and, although this is often not the case, you cannot be denied transition care as a nonbinary person in most countries that do trans care.
most people in the field of transgender health agree that variation of gender experience is natural and should be embraced. all things in science are grey areas within grey areas. in every aspect of human gender and sex there is a grey middle area, be it in genitalia, hormone sets, chromosomes, identity, sexuality, or expression. it would not make sense scientifically for nonbinary people not to exist, as it would mean a supernatural lack of variation that should occur biologically as it does within every other species and every other aspect of human health and nature.
I recommend you not hit them with all the stuff I just said, as it all sounds vaguely uncertain. that was more for your benefit.
here are some resources for your dad and brother than might be helpful:
Middle Sexes: Redefining He and She
everything you need to know about nonbinary identities
what it feels like to be transgender
explaining genderqueer to those who are not
-Newt
(p.s.
also please note i am not a scientist and literally all of the information i just gave you has been procured by talking to gender therapists and my physician and reading articles n the internet)
Why is nobody talking about this study?
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22364652
It’s basically a study saying that bigender/genderfluid gender identities (or any other identity that shifts back and forth over time) could have a biological basis. I haven’t seen anything about it on Tumblr, and I was wondering if ya’ll even knew?
Anyway, it’s a summary of the study, ya’ll should check it out.
