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Social Construct Masterpost

I was inspired to make this post because of the mass confusion on tumblr about what social constructs are and how they function. I will start with a simple example:

This is a one dollar bill. It is an excellent example of a social construct. This piece of paper represents a specific amount of spending power in the society that it exists in (the USA). An individual person could decide personally that it represents 1000$ worth of spending power, but it would not matter because like all social constructs, the collective agreement between individuals in society is what determines the meaning of the construct. There are laws on the books about currency but it doesn’t stop society from changing the meaning of a dollar; after all, in times of scarcity a dollar is a much more valuable asset than in times of plenty. The exact value of a dollar is something that fluctuates in tune with other factors, including things like consumer confidence- meaning, how consumers feel about the economy. Social constructs can change based on changes of opinion in the population. 

One way to test if something is a social construct is to remove it from its native society and see if it retains the same functionality. The US dollar is accepted in some foreign countries, but in other places, it is just a piece of paper. 

Another way to test if something is a social construct is to remove people from the picture entirely and see if it retains its functionality. Without people to give a dollar meaning it simply becomes paper. 

Contrast the attributes of a dollar with say, biological sex.

Male humans produce sperm and much higher levels of testosterone than females. Females produce ova and offspring if their eggs are fertilized and implanted. Individuals who are sterile still have either male or female anatomy which serves sexual functions for the individual. Virtually everyone on earth qualifies as one sex or the other, with or without malfunctioning or variations. Is this binary a social construct?

Does the collective agreement of society give male and female organs their functionality? Absolutely not. Humans did not always have an understanding of how pregnancy happened, and yet it happened anyway. Individuals who don’t know about or understand reproduction can and do get pregnant via sex. No matter how many people got together and decided that females inseminate males there would be no change in the function of testes or ovaries. 

The functionality of human reproductive organs is also impervious to cultural or geographical differences. All over the world people get pregnant and have babies by mixing sperm from males with ova from females. There is no exception. 

Removing humans from the equation also has no effect on the biological reality of mammalian reproduction. Male mammals are male, female mammals are female, and only one of the two can give birth. 

Biological sex is not and never has been a social construct.

Another example is gender. Femininity is the easiest example to discuss. Lets look at different examples of femininity from around the world:

As you can see, what it means to be feminine or girly is very different depending upon the society. None of these is the “correct” femininity, just different versions from different cultures. There is no objective way to determine what makes someone feminine in any given culture- you have to ask people. 

The nature of femininity is totally subjective and relies on the collective agreement of society. If you move one of these women into a different society their defining feminine characteristics instead become physical characteristics with no gender designation at all. In fact, what would make you gender conforming in one culture would make you gender non conforming in another. Gender also changes in individual societies over time, so the meaning of being feminine in America in the 1800s would differ markedly from what it means to be feminine in America right now. How people feel about the construct changes its meaning.Thus we can easily say that gender is a social construct. 

male civility is a facade.

In response to bans on trans women in women's sports, some have suggested that all sports leagues and competitions should be gender-desegregated and open to all, regardless of gender. Do you support this, and what effect do you think it would have on the number of women in professional sports, and their median pay?

Support, increase number, increase pay

Support, increase number, decrease pay

Support, decrease number, increase pay

Support, decrease number, decrease pay

Oppose, increase number, increase pay

Oppose, increase number, decrease pay

Oppose, decrease number, increase pay

Oppose, decrease number, decrease pay

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by the way if men seriously “can’t help it” and “can’t stop himself” from sex offending in literally any scenario, he should be put down like an uncontrollable animal

"We're all born naked the rest is just drag." Doesn't it get tiring? Performing every day of your life for other people, waiting for their applause or boos in judgement, needing to know if you have correctly performed the part of (gender). At least drag people are getting paid for that shit, you're doing it for free. Fuck, you have to pay for it. Backstage is so limited and isolating when the world is a stage.

Thinking about that reply that one time that went something like, ‘finding out the capitalist patriarchal system takes advantage of vulnerable groups for sex should make a leftist angry and want to fight back. But instead the pro-sex-work crowd uses the system at large being crappy and exploitative as a way to shrug off the notion of prostitution being bad.’

Mostly because posts on my dash are reminding me of it. People are like, ‘womp womp capitalism’s always bad’ you don’t act that way about Amazon and their pee bottles. You get mad at the inhumane treatment of impoverished people! Suddenly the status quo of exploiting impoverished people is fine when it’s for sex. It’s so bullshit.

”Feminists think the goals of Tra’s and MtFs are unconnected-“ and you spent an entire book giving me really good reasons to continue to think that. This book says that the reason males are misogynistic is their fear of being perceived as feminine, therefore feminism should focus on helping males out of that brain hole. And the thing is… Feminism has tried that. Libfem bullshit has BEEN babying men and blaming women for males cruelty for supposedly being the people who won’t let them hold purses or whatever the fuck.

Has it worked? I wouldn’t say so. I look around and still see women suffering. I think the reason males are misogynistic is because they benefit from a hierarchical system that treats women as property. I think this happens regardless of any secondary factors. I’ve seen too many feminine males defend pornography to think defense of pornography comes from some place of self loathing instead of their desire to get off no matter what. The goal of radical feminists is female liberation from a system that sees them as the property of males. The goal of ‘trans feminism’ is the liberation of femininity from the shackles of masculinity. I can say that’s a fine goal, but they are so fundamentally different that they require different movements.

one of my biggest gripes currently is the amount of people who will get super mad if u point out something that sexualises women and especially things that sexualise girls. like "ew why would u even think a 10 yr old in a crop top or a 4 year old in a bikini is sexual youre such a creep for even thinking that" like ok put ur fucking son in a crop top then. send him out in public wearing tiny little panties that have his ass sticking out. why are girls clothes so much smaller and tighter and more revealing than boys clothes?