Does gender exist?
Vložit
- čas přidán 20. 12. 2015
- In response to some questions about my last gender video, I talk about whether or not gender exists, and why it is important at all.
This video addresses the important distinction between something being socially constructed, and something being imaginary, or unimportant. By drawing parallels to other social constructs, such as money, and standards of beauty, I hope to make it easier to understand how we know gender is socially constructed, what that actually means, and why it’s important for us moving forward.
--
Find Me Here:
Website: awylde.com
Twitter: / awylde_
Facebook: / awylde
Instagram: / awylde_
TikTok: @awylde_
For professional and booking inquiries:
Contact@awylde.com - Zábava
You talked about it very well! Hopefully society will see gender differently in the future and completely eradicate gendering things unnecessarily.
Great to see how english speaking people have more knowledge about it than us french people. We tried thanks to videos like yours to share it to the french community.
Keep going!
So because of the variety of individuals that follow me on social media, I try not to share videos that talk about controversial topics.... BUT I had to share this video! I really like the way you explained social construct and gender. Very well said 🙂 thanks for this video!
+Sabrina Cespedes I'm glad you felt that it was good enough to share :]
I'm late af, but lately I've been zipping through all your videos in an effort to further discover my own gender identity. Despite what all the other comments are saying, I just wanted to let you know how inspiring you are, how essential you've been, and how much you are appreciated. Thank you so much for making these videos!
Five years later, and I'm doing exactly the same thing
Thank you Ashley Wylde. Social change is hard, as you can see from all the comments on this video. Your video is so on point, its like the tip of a needle. Keep making amazing videos!
Glad you made this video! so many people don't understand this kinda thing and i'm glad you can help the people who don't!
Lol people who take gender to the next fucking level by raging over birth names on tumblr are the cancer of the planet
If I interpret your argument correctly, it goes something like this:
(1) A thing is a social construct only if that thing is changeable and arbitrary;
(2) Gender is changeable and arbitrary;
∴ (3) Therefore, gender is a social construct.
This is a classic example of the logical fallacy known as "affirming the consequent." The conclusion (3) does not follow from premises (1) and (2), assuming that those premises are true. Thus, this argument is invalid.
They provided evidence that gender is changeable and arbitrary: ideas of masculinity and femininity evolve, many self-identified men and women disregard commonly associated gender stereotypes and roles, and the fact that gender is such a difficult word to define philosophically, etc.
Even if you take the pseudo-scientific definition of gender (penis-vagina binary), there are still major exceptions, and common ones at that that cannot be accounted for with that definition.
I get that it's a difficult and very esoteric concept to grasp, because our brains are made to survive in agrarian society, not deal with deep questions like this.
Nope, the interpretation is incorrect. You made 'social construct' a noun, a thing unto itself. It is not; social construct is a theory...it exists only in theory. Either one accepts the data or one does not. A social construct is changeable and arbitrary; Gender is changeable and arbitrary; therefore gender is a social construct. Race is changeable and arbitrary; religion is changeable and arbitrary---not just their existence but their importance.
ive been a fan of yours for quite awhile and you never seem to disappoint I love how well spoken this video is and well all of your videos are, thanks for putting out such great content 👍👍
+Daf W Thanks for the comment! I hope to keep putting out content you enjoy :]
Really liking your videos lately!
+Allaina Kay Thanks!
I'm so happy that you talk about gender! it is something that I would like to learn more about, but because of my age and the people around me I dont really get to talk about it. I learn a lot every time I watch your videos. Thank you!
+leshem artzi This is amazing, I'm so glad you find value in my videos!
colonel coover you are so wrong. first of all, what you machined is sex, not genders! and yes, they are the main ones, but definitely not the only ones. Secondly, maybe l'm young, and still have to go to school, but I have a lot of knowledge witch I am sure that you don't have, and it is fine with me, but you should be open to some other things. thirdly, if that's what you think, why do you even comment here? stop the trolling!
+colonel coover I don't think that you understand what feminists fight for. maybe you think that it has nothing to do with you, and maybe you're right, and it is fine, but you can't tell me if my gender and my friends' genders exist. Our sex can be one thing and our gender can be something completely different. and actually, psychology has a lot to do with gender. I began learning about it a year ago and I'm still do. if you want to understand more about it, you are in the best chanel about it. you should watch all of these videos.
+colonel coover your degree has nothing to do with the fact that you understand neither the difference betweenv sex and gender nor the need for feminism in our world. I'm sorry for you.
+colonel coover I can say the same about you.
I've been learning about gender not long ago and your videos really helped to understand it. Thank you :)
+Andrea T. This makes me really happy :] Thank you for watching!
+Ashley Wylde could you please give me advice on how to come out to my parents? I'm a really shy person and don't know how to do it.
+colonel coover I'm in college ;)
+colonel coover you don't make any sense😂
+colonel coover whatever floats your boat...
Love your point of view and the vividness with which you explain it. I was born female but identify a bit off the social construct of feminine. There are times that I hate feminine things about myself and my girlfriend points it out and says that there is no such thing as "feminine" or "masculine" and I think I understand it. I can't tell if I'm disliking feminine things because I'm forcing myself to believe, due to social norms, that something is feminine or masculine, or if I just prefer the more "masculine" thing. For example, guys' jeans vs girls' jeans. I own both but always shop in the men's department for them. At times, my girlfriend suggests that I shop in the women's department because I have quite wide hips. I get upset because she suggests something feminine - but should I? I understand where she's coming from but I can't help but to lean more towards the men's department for most things. Am I just avoiding everything feminine because I'm trying to make my body appear more masculine or?
Thank you for being you and doing what you do; it's very bold and admirable. Have a good day :)
Thank you, that was super helpful!
From understanding (and tell me if I'm wrong here) given your argument, wouldnt that mean Masculinity and Femininity are social constructs rather than the genders themselves? We are born with genitalia but the idea of what having a certain genetalia means would be the social cobstruct, right?
If you could, how would you change the way department stores advertised clothing or the whole "men's/women's bathroom" situations?
+Riley Sargent This is a great question, I might try to answer it in a video! Clothes should be organized by size, and bathrooms should just be bathrooms. That's my thoughts!
I’m here from ISU. The video was recommended on our assignments 😊
Thanks for the video
Ashley where do you usually shop?
or what is your favorite stores?
+CXDES ϟ I love shopping second hand! I'm always perusing thrift stores and flea markets and that kind of thing. I also shop at places like Ross and TJMaxx :]
So, this video just undermined your whole argument...
I don't agree with what you said to be honest, but I liked the video regardless. Always interesting to hear other's views. Your videos are well done as well. :)
I love the way you explain things! It's only the second video with you that I've seen, the first one was with Jenna (Lesbian Answers), but God I'm so impressed with your explanations.
+Reckless Babe Thank you very much! I'm a writer, and I spend all day every day thinking about words lol
too bad you're wrong
Gender is not a social construct. While some things have been constructed by society to specific genders, gender itself is not a social construct. There is difference in the genders in both physical ways and behavioural ways and while these behavioural ways have changed/been reduced through out time some aspects of them still exist.
If you look at the animal kingdom both genders are different, lets take lions as an example. The female lions are the providers/hunters while the males are not. The lions are aware of their gender and understand their roles naturally.
Humans are much more complicated than this and as we evolve and time goes by there are less specific roles besides the obvious roles in reproduction (women get pregnant) but that being said certain genders still take on some roles. Men often do jobs that are more physically demanding because of their anatomy and the fact they are generally physically stronger then women. It has been proven that women generally have more maternal instincts than men do, the list can go one.
Again, these are generalizations and humans are more complicated than this.
If gender was a social construct we would have all been made the exact same with out much difference in anatomy, society would have 'constructed' separate genders based off something like physical strength or social status and not chromosomes and DNA.
I would also like to add that saying gender is not a social construct does not mean things like being gender fluid, transgender etc don't not exist, physical/instinctual aspects to a person are different than their personal thoughts, beliefs and personal identity.
I like how well Ashley carries herself. just full of confidence. Also does Ashley play piano. I want to hear it.
+Rebecca Patty I don't play! I know some basic chords, and mostly I just have fun teaching myself to play easy versions of popular songs. I wish I did play! Jenna is a phenomenal pianist, maybe I should get a lesson lol
+Ashley Wylde I can play a few too. Not many though. I was hoping you would bust out some blues or maybe some Bach. oh well...
+
Very good video! Love your mode of expression
+Julia Schneider Thank you!
Micheal Foucault's Power/Knowledge can also be used to understand gender for those still struggling with the difference between social contract and imaginary.
This is great! I'll be referencing your videos for gender if it ever comes up. Hopefully it doesnt need to, but either way i like this ^w^
It would be interesting to see you do a challenge owo
+In-Sean-mnia What kind of challenge? I've done the beanboozled challenge and the cinnamon challenge, but those were the only one's that really caught my eye. Do you have one in mind?
Whisper challenge, best friend challenge and whats in my mouth challenge. Those are super funny
Thanks for the suggestions! I'll look into those :]
Well said!
LOVE. THIS.
Could you maybe do one on gender expression? What counts as gender expression? Is everything we do some sort of gender expression? If it is actually harmful in some cases?
Does going to the gym count as gender expression if it makes a male identified person feel like "more of a man"?
Also... The real mystery... Is what is assigned to genders a social construct (I.e pink, blue, make up, football etc.), or is gender itself a social construct (i.e man or woman)?
+Panic! In My Bedroom As for the last part, they are both part of the same social construction. "Man" and "woman" are arbitrary terms we use to describe a person based on how they behave (and also usually based on an ASSUMPTION about their assigned sex. Most people don't check someone else's genitals before they decide on what their gender is, but there's an assumption that takes place there). We make those decisions about the gender of others using such criteria as "pink is for girls" and "football is for boys." So the full effect of the social construct is such that a random person could look at a stranger and use society's equation to assume their experience: "That person is playing football and has short hair (assumption: they probably have a penis and testicles) result: they are a man."
I have videos on gender expression coming soon! But I would argue because of the human tendency to want to organize things, any individual behavior can be considered gender expression because individuals around you are likely to use it to categorize you into a gender (male or female, probably).
I can't believe you replied! Thank you so much, that is really interesting and cleared up a few things that have been troubling me about the whole social construct man/woman thing :)
Just another question if you don't mind answering: is there any particular place you get your information from? Like a website or book? Because I would really like to read up more about it. I have read Cordelia Fine's "Delusions of Gender" and that was spectacular, but I was wondering if there was any particular source that you could recommend? Thank you XD
All of my gender videos that I use references have links in the description! I typically have to do a kind of wide search to get the content I'm looking for, but it's out there!
oh let me put it simple i get it now girl boy.
yay love it! :)
+JoeyWisdom I'm glad you liked the video :]
So if gender a social construct in other animals? Or only humans?
+wildshape Gender is a social construct in Snails!
Get it... because... they can change their genitalia...
You are actually brilliant!!!!!!
I really liked your parallels with some other social structures and I agree with a lot of what you said. However, unlike money, for example, gender's existence doesn't have any beneficial purpose in a completely equal society. It is certainly a reality in current times but does it need to be in the future? Like you were saying, masculinity and femininity are separate notions from gender, and if gender is removed from gender roles, expression etc. what value does it have and what purpose does it fulfil? If it does fulfil no real purpose then is it not a redundant feature?
+Benz de Larr The purpose I see it fulfilling is helping individuals express their experiences. It's pretty hard to describe how you move through the world if gender disappears. I believe there is benefit in understanding gender to make our society better at recognizing differences in experience, and we use gender and language around gender to help each other understand what those experiences are.
+Ashley Wylde Why does it have to be gender, though? Why can't it be any other number of signifiers or groups if people with common interests/qualities? Why do people have to shove themselves into boxes, or force themselves to conform to standards, rather than questioning themselves, discovering more about who they are, and then maybe gravitating towards other people who share those same central traits and/or experiences?
I understand that in this world, this world in which we live, gender is a thing, and in response to that it's important to consider, to question, and to work around. Hopefully to change and question, too. But why does it have to exist? You say it's "pretty hard to describe how you move through the world if gender disappears", but I don't see why that would be true.
+Nyzackon I think it's the same with sexuality, for example. Sexuality is extremely fluid and every person really has a different experience with sexuality (when you look at all factors like libido, turn ons, what type of person or actions one is attracted to, on and on). Still, society struggles a lot with understanding bisexual people; they think, you're either straight or you're not. People use the word "bisexual" because it's easier than saying "I have experience attraction to men and women in my lifetime," every time they want to talk about sexuality.
With gender it's the same. We use gender to frame our experiences. I think it could be a lot of other ways, but if you look at it from an evolutionary standpoint, maybe it had to do with choosing a mate, etc. The point is that "genderqueer" is much easier than saying "I have never felt like man or woman fit me, and there aren't many other options and so I'm still trying to figure out what it actually means to have gender, while also becoming the most authentic version of myself."
gender is neurological. how we interpret our own gender, the idea of cis and trans people being different (other than one needing certain surgeries), the idea that girl and and boy belong on the binary and not the nonbinary, and gender conformity is a social construct but whether if your a boy, girl, agender, gender fluid, etc. thats all neurological. if it was all a social construct that would mean that you and or the government could change it. the government can change the value of a dollar bill and change the currency and it would have a meaningful change but the government only recognizes nonbinary people being cis which isn't the case. it also doesn't account for why kids have trans brains before they can even by affected by society
Awesome video, thanks for taking the time. some depressing comments though.
I so agree with this! I think if we ever want to make the system better and overcome things like the patriarchy we do have to acknowledge that even though things like gender roles aren't always good gender is real.
+Livi's Vlog I'm glad you enjoyed the video :] We can't pretend gender doesn't exist so long as it is the reason for oppression and violence.
Lol. As soon as you mentioned that society is dangerous for trans and non binary people, there was a noise in the background that was super creepy.
+sidney glaze .... eerie!
beauty is not a social construct. That was the worst possible example, you could have given. I've seen beautiful women, black, white,asian,latino. Blonde or brunette. But, you are obviously trying to push that bbw agenda on people. And sorry but most men just dont find large women attractive. Thats not a social construct,sorry.
And its nothing to be ashamed of.
Both sexes are wired to find youthful, healthy and fertile men or women attractive. Thats biology.
There are obviously societal add ons to that, THEY are socially constructed e.g. long hair, make-up, shaved body, but sexual attraction is very much not a social construct
I don't think the idea that gender is a social construct precludes an evolutionary explanation. One might hypothesize that the biological influences that affect gender are fundamentally changed by our experiences in childhood (I.e. the raising of America: DNA is not destiny). If that is true, you could then argue that the flexibility of both genders to behave and function like the other gender (if needed based on circumstance and experience) is evolutionarily selected for because it would increase our chances for survival.
This is just like the nature v nurture debate in development. I think as the study of gender continues, we will find that it is a complex interaction between our genetics and the environment we live in, not just one or the other.
I seen and heard a *lot* of confused, ignorant and wrong videos in my time here on youtube.
You have now taken the first place trophy on that stage. Congrats!!!!!
+PillznarRy You ventured into the dragons cave, but are you brave enough to keep on walking and endure all the mind-numbing idiocy? There's a lot even worse here on CZcams.
lol How true you are!!!
Do you mean by gender our neurological sex (gender identity)? As opposite to genetic sex (chromosomes), endocrine sex (hormones) and anatomical sex (genitalia, secondary sex characteristics, etc)? Gender identity has biological basis in our brain. It has physical basis on our body the same way any other aspect of our sex has. Growing number of studies point to this direction. And that's the main reason why "gender identity disorder" (= being transgender) was removed from mental disorders at DSM-5. Gender is not a social construct.
Gender roles are all different story, of course. They're based on cultural expectations and generalizations. But what makes a marginal group of people not follow the expected roles (tomboys, for example)? That too, has something to do with our neurology. And the same way, neurology will make majority of girls "follow" the feminine expectations of female gender. But because of majority of members of certain gender prefer to act certain way, does not mean they were oppressed to do so. It's not brought to us by the society alone, some of it is indeed innate, let it be common (girly girl) or less common (tomboy) trait.
I love this video
You are AWESOME! And I loved the way you explained ❤ Thank you so much for this video! We need to talk about gender 😊
+Ana Paola Muhammad YOU are awesome! We all have to work together to make gender something people can understand. Thank you for watching :]
If not synonymous with sex, no
thanks for making my day! I wanna hug you, these videos are Gold
+Chelsea G Thanks Chelsea, that means so much to me! I'm really putting effort into making videos that are informative and helpful, and also enjoyable :] Thanks for watching!
+colonel coover what a coincidence, yours does the same to me
The difference is money and beauty standards are IDEAS gender is not it is a biological
great video do you have any sources of info. not just to back up what you say but also i would like some more info on these topics thanks
oh yea if we weren't tought guys could be pregnant
It's danger us to people that don't have any think special about them it just a fad
biology you guys, it's a thing
I don't want to attack you. But here's the thing, if our beauty standards are socially constructed then how can gay people exist? We are told from a young age that we should like the opposite gender, so how does being gay exist? Did they just somehow unlearn their heterosexuality? So is sexuality a choice now?
Gender is not scocial construct, its scientific, biologic. You are born either male or female and for a very very very few person they were born as an hermaphridit, butthere is always a predominance in 1 gender even in those situation. example what is starting to happen in woman sports.
Many natural woman are loosing against ppls who claim they are woman but have not even started a transformation.
Recently in canada a trans woman that dont even look trans she look like a bulky man shattered weight lifting record by almost2.2 times the actual record that was performed by a natural woman 3 years ago... 2.2 times the weight.... it never happend in any sport exept when a man who claim that is a woman go do a sport.
Before there was female trans athlete in the ufc therew as almost never jaw breaking punches.... since trans woamn have been integrated in the ufc the amount of womans with broken jaw have almost trippled if not quadruppled.
Your ideology is great for ppls who just want to go in life and do nothing special then ok there could be no gender for the most common activities in life but as soon as it get at higher level you see that gender is not scocially constructed but biologic.
We see world wide trans woman breaking insane record in sport...
This video is the greatest improvisation I've ever seen of turning a distributor clockwise.
Masculine and feminine characteristics are not instilled by socialization alone. Biology plays a massive role in the psychology and behavior of individuals. To ignore these factors is foolish.
If you think the characteristics of masculinity and femininity are socially constructed I challenge you to ask just about any trans person who has undergone hormone replacement therapy, what their experience of it was. Hormones *will* change you psychologically. Administering testosterone to a women or estrogen to a man will cause them to feel and act differently than they did before receiving the hormones. The hormones will even change the morphology of the brains of these individuals to match up more with the morphology of the opposite sex's brains.
Along these lines, it seems restrictive and oppressive to have to *teach* individuals how to be their gender. Couldn't we just allow or encourage individuals to express themselves as they please and not have to worry about conforming to male, female, demigender, gray gender, ambigender... or any of the other 72 different gender that gender activists cling so dearly to?
All in all, people should just express themselves however they please. I don't think people need a justification like "Im actually non-binary" in order for their choice to violate gender expectations to be tolerated or accepted. It's a hollow justification which perpetuates and strengthens gender stereotypes, and undermines the true rational of why we should be allowed to step out side of gender norms.
Watch 'Gender is not a social construct' by Blaire White. She speaks as a transgender person
I speak as a transgender person when I say that it is. She just wants clicks from triggered white men, because she's a pretty face who hates other trans people.
This is just like religion, irrational beliefs that serve some personal service.
finding someone attractive depends on the person its not a social construct
lol pick up a book on biology, gender a social construct? lol and you believe this?
I really respect you, but gender is not a social construct. Gender ROLES are social constructs, yes, but gender is about your body. It's not something you learn, it's how you are since birth. We learn masculine and feminine, but we don't learn dysphoria, I didn't learn about non binary identities until recently, but I've always felt I am neither female nor male. It's how I feel about my body, not how I express myself or dress or whatever. You can dress like a man but identify as a woman, or dress as a woman and identify as non binary, etc. Gender is not a social construct. Not at all.
Money was created by humans, humans were created by evolution, so your comparison isn't very good.
Very convenient for you, don't you think? Don't do this Ashley, you are confusing the young males and females of this generation. You are in denial, stop! You are probably being honest, but you are totally wrong, sweet heart.
*bear hug* XOXO
+Kenny Ai Agnostic (The Diamond Dog) If you don't believe gender is socially constructed then you can't argue that I'm confusing males and females since they should know their gender perfectly without learning any of it from outside sources
You're simply wrong.
views on beauti are not social constructs either. Healthy is beautiful along all societies. deal with it.
you are simply ignorant
Care to tell us why?