Re:Estrogen: A Trip Report
by esperent on Thursday June 19, 2025 @07:58PM
(#44323621)
> The concept that pink is for girls and blue is for boys is social and cultural, not biological
This is the most lightweight example possible. Here's some more:
- makeup being for women and not for men
- dresses and skirts being for women
- high heels literally used to be for men
- any profession being "for women" or "for men"
There are some grey areas that are probably an intertwining of biological and social gender:
- women being the predominant childrearers for very young children (both in the family and in creches)
Some things are a combination of historical social constructs, social gender constructs, and biological gender
- men being the predominant wage earner while women are home makers
(the part of this that is related to biological gender is that women need to take more time at home to take care of very young children, everything else is a social construct).
Some very few things remain as pure biology:
- pregnancy and childbirth
... although even these are surrounded by all kinds of social constructs, such as most midwifes being women.
If you can say one thing about the nature/nurture debate it's that human beings - as a species, not necessarily as individuals - are incredibly flexible and adaptable, and only the most basic of things are absolutely fixed by our biology and genetics.
This is the most lightweight example possible. Here's some more:
- makeup being for women and not for men
- dresses and skirts being for women
- high heels literally used to be for men
- any profession being "for women" or "for men"
There are some grey areas that are probably an intertwining of biological and social gender:
- women being the predominant childrearers for very young children (both in the family and in creches)
Some things are a combination of historical social constructs, social gender constructs, and biological gender
- men being the predominant wage earner while women are home makers
(the part of this that is related to biological gender is that women need to take more time at home to take care of very young children, everything else is a social construct).
Some very few things remain as pure biology:
- pregnancy and childbirth
... although even these are surrounded by all kinds of social constructs, such as most midwifes being women.
If you can say one thing about the nature/nurture debate it's that human beings - as a species, not necessarily as individuals - are incredibly flexible and adaptable, and only the most basic of things are absolutely fixed by our biology and genetics.