You wrote:
>
> If you look back in the archives you will see that LBO is allergic
> to arguments about genetic definitions of sexuality, gender, etc.
> The path has been argued before (and for the moment I cannot
> quite remember who that foolish LBOster was), but has become
> grown over from disuse.
I know it's a leftist truism that gender has nothing to do with genetics. It's just not true.
We exchange:
> > There aren't four genders or six, and certainly no odd number.
>
> I think there may be as many as 23 or 27. After all, what is gender
> but a role we play? Can we only play two roles? What gender is a
> butch femme? A transfag? A cd male?
You can hypothesize what you want. Science is there to test hypotheses and science says there are two genders.
We exchange:
> > We don't lose and gain gender.
>
> So a transexual never changes gender?
No.
> > Again, why think that we are so different from other animals?
>
> There is a fish that goes from male to female.
And that fish has a far more plastic genome than we have. Molluscs change gender and some can have sex with themselves to produce offspring. How about we limit ourselves to comparisons with species with whom we have somewhat more recent common ancestors.
> > You don't create political gender equality by pretending that there's
> no difference between men and women.
>
> But you do create it by saying there are only two genders?
There are only two genders and pretending otherwise is a stupid way to try and get around the thorny issues we must deal with if we are to create political gender equality. Ultimately, it's irresponsible.
BTW, I hope I didn't leave the impression that I think seeing penises as objects of sexual desire is a bad thing. Remember that this discussion started as one about heterosexual men. It makes perfect sense that men who are sexually objectified by other men should see their bodies as objects of desire. In fact, I think the fact that gay men and straight men have sexual cultures that emphasize visual stimulation tends to support what I'm saying about male sexuality. I think male-female and male-male sexuality are a lot more similar than male-male and female-female (or female-male) sexuality.
Congratulations on your marriage. Hopefully we'll have marriage equality too very soon.
boddi
> Brian Dauth
> Queer Buddhist Resister (married to a fabulous gender variant male)
>
>
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