"You are just proving that gender is socially constructed": Drag queen slams Marjorie Taylor Greene

MTG (and similar idiots): look, a scapegoat! Get him!

Scapegoat: I'm biologically female, dipshit.

MTG: surprised Pikachu face

Hi, I know nothing about the drag scene, curious about the definition here.

I thought drag was specifically men dressing up as women, is drag any gender putting on too much makeup and wearing gaudy outfits?

It's just the look?

It’s not just the look, it’s performative. It can be any sex assigned at birth and any gender - including nonbinary, as the subject of the article identifies.

Depending on your viewpoint, there’s an argument to be made that KISS, Alice Cooper, and many hair metal bands were a form of drag.
- Thanks.
  
  Yeah I definitely identified those bands as drag, I just didn't know it could be anyone.
  
  So look plus performance equals drag?
  
  Thanks
- There is also a wonderful argument that professional wrestling is drag
- Plenty of classic comedians dressed in drag for performances during “wholesome family entertainment” tv days. It’s only become a problem because conservatives made it one.
I'm not part of the drag scene, but my understanding is that drag is an exaggerated performance of gender.

The actual situation of the actor doesn't really factor into whether or not it's drag. It's also not exclusively an exaggerated performance of femininity.
- Ah, "exaggerated" is keying me in to a more complete definition, thanks
I think the definition is getting more loose in recent year with different types of drag queens.

I like to think it's gender clowns in the nicest way. The art is playing with gender and gender expectations in an aesthetic, comical or thought provoking way.
- Haha, that's a great way to think about it. Gender jesters

Preach queen!

I still don't even understand what gender is, in my language there is only a word for (typically biological) sex and nothing more.

It's pretty simple - sex is basically your reproduction capabilities (in biology even this is far from trivial "A or B") while gender is more like how you see yourself, how you present to the world, and usually comes with certain assumptions and roles from the society you're in. That's why people say it's a social construct; it's literally constructed, socially. Being cis or trans just means whether your reproductive traits match your socially constructed traits.
- Oh now I understand, thank you. I think the far right don't understand and think that people are referring to their sex. Maybe their social circles are socially/culturally separated by sex?
- I think it's important to point out here that you aren't talking about gender identity (physiological), but the social construct aroundgender roles (socisl/cultural).
  
  Gender identity is not a social construct, and I believe this is more what we are talking about when it comes to gender because the person in the article is talking about how they were born female but identify non binary.
When a baby is born what color do you associate with boy and what color do you associate with girl?
- Blue with the boy and pink with the girl I guess...?
In lefty circles such as most of Lemmy, "gender" refers to the social norms and expectations that are attached to sex.

Personally, I think choosing the word "gender" to describe gender roles was a mistake. A call to abolish gender norms seems pretty reasonable, but if you're uninformed about this definition the call to abolish gender sounds utterly deranged.

Rare to see an anti-trans argument on lemmy

What?
- gender is socially constructed

Why does a social construct require surgery to fix?

Well, beauty is a social construct as well, and yet plastic surgery is a massive industry, with shifting trends as well.

Social construct does not mean entirely abstract, but in dialectic exchange with material reality.
- This is probably one of the better points I have heard. Though the plastic surgery industry is pretty problematic on its own.
Sex isn't gender, there are plenty of trans folks that never seek surgical conversion, body dysmorphia is a common condition among trans people but not inherent to being trans and, finally, fuck off.
- You won't get long with that final statement. Consider that such statement fuels the flame of people who are against trans, drag etc etc. You can clearly that the original commenter is willing to engage in discussion.
- Surgery has no impact on sex and I was precise with the term I used.
Surgery doesn't change gender. It changes sex.

Gender is a social construct, sex is anatomical.
- Sex is immutable, you are aware that sex is more than the appearance of sex organs right?
I think it’s a valid question, and I don’t think you should be downvoted actually. Now, I hope you do read my answer.

The answer is that some components of gender are socially constructed — like what different genders wear, what roles they fill, and certain behaviors. However, there is also very likely a component of gender that is biological and doesn’t always manifest itself in your bodily form or sex organs, but in the brain.

We know from genetics that it’s common for mutations to occur. We also know that certain chemicals and hormones impact brain chemistry, especially during gestation. So, why is it so far fetched that how one thinks of one’s self in their mind might not align with their bodily characteristics?

Sure, on the whole, people who identify as masculine in their brains tend to have a penis and tend to be physically attracted to those who present outwardly as feminine and have vaginas. And those who identify as feminine tend have vaginas and tend to be physically attracted to those who present outwardly as masculine.

But, nature, genetics, and hormones can result in those three components - gender, sex, and sexual preference - having different combinations. Trans folks might have a physical body that is different from the gender they feel they are in their mind. They might feel relieved to bring these two things into alignment, and even to adopt some of the socially constructed components of a gender that they identify as in their mind.

We also know from the existence of gay and lesbian people that sexual preference does not always align with one’s sex or gender. It is possible to identify as a man, and to be attracted to men. It is possible to identify as a woman and be attracted to women. Why? Well, nature, genetics, and hormones can some times create people who have small differences from the average population.

That’s all it is and the existence of these types of people poses no real threat to you. Nor are their differences from your own a valid reason to deny them equal treatment under the law, nor privacy in the medical decisions they make to feel more like themselves.
- I appreciate the point you're making, but I'm not entirely sure that on average slight differences indicates much of a biological component. Ie. trans or gay people having slight biochemical differences on average says nothing about any individual trans or gay person. Furthermore, there is very miniscule average difference between cis-AFAB and cis-AMAB brains so much so that I bet it would be impossible to find a sex difference between them for many.
  
  There might be a biological component to sexuality or gender identity, there might not be- it doesn't really matter. It should be enough to say, I don't like how I look, I want surgery to correct that.
- I think their point is that once biology is involved it's no longer a social construct.
  
  I also think that people conflate sex and gender and it makes things unnecessarily confusing.
  
  For sake of argument let's stick with binary for now.
  
  There are words that describe sex. There are words that describe gender. And there are words that can be used as a shortcut for a combination of both.
  
  For example (and if you don't like my example substitute your own words): a masculine female is often called a tomboy or described as butch.
  
  TERFs probably feel that the term woman is a shortcut for feminine females, and that those who aren't female but are feminine are not Champagne, they are sparkling wine. And it's easy to see why someone would be insulted by that opinion. Strictly speaking, being told "you're not a woman" isn't necessarily an attack, or stating that you shouldn't exist. But yes (obviously!) people with extreme views jump onto that bandwagon and are willing to kill/oppress to make everyone the same cuz they can't handle weird people.
  
  Yes, trans people are weird (queer means weird!). But weird isn't bad, and people who think weird is bad are not people I would want to hang out with, even if they also happen to be trans. Pride is about pride: own your weirdness.
- As far as I can tell, identity is cultural. Though you are implying certain identities are programmed into our brains via genetics which is not something I am aware of. Does everyone have an intrinsic sense of gender or even other facets of identity? I don't know if I have this sense of gender, most of the time I don't even feel like my body is me. It is merely the instrument I interact with the physical world with.
- Also would trans brain(?) Be considered a neurological condition?
Surgery helps people fit into the social construct
- Why not change the construct instead?
Since woke globalists push their ideology..
- Oh, look, an antisemitic dog whistle and a complaint about people pushing an ideology. In one sentence? That's fun.
- “Fuck your feelings”
  
  — MAGA
- BINGO! I got troll buzzword Bingo! Are we playing with the free space rule?
- u r big dum
- Enlighten us to what exactly is a woke globalist and an example of one