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Originally Posted by Lysis There's a difference between wanting to get rid of the oppressive expectations that gender roles and the gender binary force upon society and not recognizing a person for who they identify themselves as. |
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Originally Posted by John Then what you want to get rid of is gender stereotypes.
That's not the same thing as gender. |
Yes, I think I'd have to agree with this point - we ought to make a very clear distinction between gender identity and gender role. Most people do seem to have an ingrained sense of their gender, and this may or may not coincide with their physical sex. I don't think there's any inherent harm in having such an identity, any more than one may harmed by identifying as bisexual. I think describing oneself as a particular gender is not a limit or a constraint, but rather a simple acknowledgement of who we are - or rather, a part of who we are.
On the other hand, gender roles (and particularly the idea of the fixed gender binary) have far more potential to be harmful, since they are woefully inadequate to describe the wonderfully diverse range of human personalities.