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A little experiment

Started by Insult to Rocks, January 27, 2014, 07:45:44 PM

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Insult to Rocks

So, having done a speech that involved these questions, and getting surprisingly few answers, I feel curious as to what the forums answers are, if you will indulge me. Please, if you do answer, be honest, and try not to argue. The info is kinda important.
What defines someone as a man?
What defines someone as a woman?
Are there any actions indicative of either gender?
"We must respect the other fellow\'s religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart."
-- H. L. Mencken

AllPurposeAtheist

Honest.? The daddy has a dinky and the mommy has a .... Oh you know the rest.. C'mon. [-X
All hail my new signature!

Admit it. You're secretly green with envy.

AllPurposeAtheist

Honest.? The daddy has a dinky and the mommy has a .... Oh you know the rest.. C'mon. [-X
All hail my new signature!

Admit it. You're secretly green with envy.

mykcob4

Quote from: "Insult to Rocks"So, having done a speech that involved these questions, and getting surprisingly few answers, I feel curious as to what the forums answers are, if you will indulge me. Please, if you do answer, be honest, and try not to argue. The info is kinda important.
What defines someone as a man?
What defines someone as a woman?
Are there any actions indicative of either gender?
1) A person that assumes complete responsibility for themselves.
2) see answer #1
3) see answer #1

stromboli

I don't always agree with APA, but I will on this one. You go past the physiological and it gets way too murky and full of icky similes and generalities that force people to think, and that is never a good thing.

AllPurposeAtheist

Call me crazy, but I'm thinking a tad more specificity in the question/experiment is in order.
All hail my new signature!

Admit it. You're secretly green with envy.

Insult to Rocks

Is that a actual request, or do you need to see some specific "examples" of gender anatomy? :wink:
I only started the thread because I got a lot less feedback than I expected in my actual presentation, and I figured you guys would be a veritable fountain of knowledge/meaningless conjecture/ snarky comments/ insane gibberish. So if I need to clarify anything specifically, please let me know.
"We must respect the other fellow\'s religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart."
-- H. L. Mencken

The Skeletal Atheist

#7
The main thing you need to understand is that there is a difference between biological sex and psychological gender.

For most people biological sex and psychological gender match up. I, for example am biologically male and mentally male.

For other people their biological sex may be one thing, but their physiologic gender is anything in between.

Now, that in mind I'll address your questions:
QuoteWhat defines someone as a man/woman?
Biologically it's a combination of physical structures and genetics. While physical structures can be changed with hormones and surgery, genetics can't yet be changed. I'd argue that since genetics can't be changed yet that biological sex can't be changed either.

Mental gender is whatever the person feels they are. There are several theories as per what determines this, but that's another thread for another time.

QuoteAre there any actions indicative of either gender?

This is the big one here, and the hardest one to answer IMO.

There are of course biological differences between the sexes that make some activities easier for one or the other, but that's only a part of it. There's also the cultural influences that must be factored in.

Gender stereotypes dictate certain actions as either feminine or masculine. Determining how much of this is biological or cultural is difficult to say the least. We can reasonably argue that things like showing emotion or wearing make-up being feminine is cultural rather than biological, but the lines blur when it comes other things. Is it arguable that a sport like football or boxing being more masculine is cultural, but it can also be argued that men are better suited for contact sports. The same goes when it comes to women and sports like gymnastics or figure skating.

When it comes to mental activities the line between culture and biology becomes even harder to define. Engineering is a traditionally male dominated field, but there have been recent efforts to get more women interested in it. Some people have criticized these efforts as being fruitless, suggesting that engineering simply isn't suited for women. Admittedly these people have been massive sexists, but there is a biological difference between the brains of men and women. Is the low number of women in engineering due to solely to cultural barriers, or is there some legitimacy to the claim that engineering is simply an easier field for the male brain than it is for the female one? It's hard to say.

So...umm...yeah. Short answer: maybe.
Some people need to be beaten with a smart stick.

Kein Mehrheit Fur Die Mitleid!

Kein Mitlied F�r Die Mehrheit!

Plu

I agree with Skeletal, there's two sets of answers.

Biologically, a male has a penis and a woman has a vagina. Actions that are indicative of gender would include impregnating women on the male side and giving birth and breastfeeding on the female side.

Mentally, the only thing that determines whether someone is male or female is that person, about themselves, and there are no mental actions that are indicative of a specific gender.

GSOgymrat

Male humans have a Y chromosome, females do not.

There are a variety of physical characteristics and behaviors more common to one sex than the other, e.g. breasts in women, larger upper body strength in men, but these are not exclusive.

Jason78

Winner of WitchSabrinas Best Advice Award 2012


We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real
tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light. -Plato

GSOgymrat


AllPurposeAtheist

Quote from: "GSOgymrat"2013 IFBB Arnold Classic

[ Image ]
How to make an ordinarily pretty woman extraordinarily ugly yet uhmm..healthy?  :-k
All hail my new signature!

Admit it. You're secretly green with envy.

Jason78

Winner of WitchSabrinas Best Advice Award 2012


We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real
tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light. -Plato

Sal1981

Quote from: "Insult to Rocks"What defines someone as a man?
Cock & balls.
Quote from: "Insult to Rocks"What defines someone as a woman?
Tits and vag.
Quote from: "Insult to Rocks"Are there any actions indicative of either gender?
Women can have babies, men cannot. Men produce and can ejaculate sperm, whereas women produce eggs which can be fertilized by sperm. If you mean actions as in behavior, then no. Although, unsurprisingly, the physique of a woman or man determines what she or he can do, provisionally, I don't think there's any action (that isn't determined from above mentioned biological differences) should limit the action of either. But with culture and "gender roles" that's what you get. Although I do think that we're fast approaching an ubiquitous global culture that is without the, IMO, retarded "gender roles" hoopla.

These biological differences aren't absolutes, more like gradients. You can have a manwoman or a womanman, called hermaphrodites. As well as both surgically and hormonally alter the bodies of men and women to go towards the other gradient.