sex, guns, and girls

[Peter van Heusden]

On Mon, 14 Aug 2000, Rob Schaap wrote:
> 
> And I actually think 'gender' is inevitable, Yoshie.  Not for any fancy
> reason (although Dennis presents a compelling list), but for the prosaic
> reason that we can't help but allocate meaning to difference.  If it had no
> meaning it would not be a difference.  Unlike some here, I reckon there are
> different sexes - and that we will ever notice this - and, in noticing it,
> we will ever accord it a set of meanings.  Ergo, gender is here to stay.
> 'Course, the meanings that constitute gender are ever up for grabs, natch.

This doesn't make sense, Rob. We don't allocate meaning to differences in
eye colour. And the amount of meaning which is allocated to body size
difference certainly seems to vary wildly - in my rather short lifetime,
I can remember differences in how male body shape has been focussed. It
used to be barely an issue (within a certain range), and now its not.

Peter
--
Peter van Heusden <pvh at egenetics.com>
NOTE: I do not speak for my employer, Electric Genetics
"Criticism has torn up the imaginary flowers from the chain not so that man 
shall wear the unadorned, bleak chain but so that he will shake off the chain 
and pluck the living flower." - Karl Marx, 1844