Feminists, do you believe that there are no innate gender differences, they are all socially constructed?

Question

Please ladies, tell me why you believe this...

Answer 1

Biologically, men and women are different. But no one is the same so it is counter-productive to say that men have this characteristic and women have this characteristic.

However, I believe that these differences are exaggerated by society's influences. We live in a very dualistic society. We like our right to be the opposite of wrong with little or no overlap.

Some men are more "feminine" and some women are more "masculine". We decide how we want to highlight these features. Usually we do so to avoid outside scrutiny.

No one is a pure product of just biology or just society. There is an ongoing interaction between the two that makes us who we are.

Answer 2

# 4 is the kind of jackass who proves feminist's points. I don't think men and women are exactly the same but any differences are extremely exaggerated by society.

Answer 3

I am not the greatest expert but the biological evidence as to how the brains are different is starting to become substantial.

     This includes being more in to the group situations, being less reckless, ambitions at work, fight or flight, and more.

     This is a big reason why role models are needed for both genders.

Answer 4

What I'm witnessing is that women WANT to be able to say there are no innate differences.

I'm not seeing that there arent those differences.

I'm seeing that women WANT TO SAY THERE ARENT ANY.

So the real question here is how come? Why do you all want that?

Answer 5

I believe there are biologically based s*x differences.  However, I believe that human societies have evolved to disadvantage female biology, making them SEEM innately unequal from males.  For example, in a business meeting, why is it okay for a man to get upset and pound his fist on the table but not okay for an upset woman to tear up or even cry?  These stress responses have biological bases, and yet one is much more tolerated than the other in today's workplace.  The culture has cultivated many ways of subordinating women and punishing those who do not submit (e.g., there are no male equivalents to the slurs "*****" or "s**t", nor are these terms as painful to men as they are when applied to women or girls).

Answer 6

I do not believe that ALL gender differences are socially constructed.  I believe that some differences are innate, but I do think the majority is because of society, the media, and how we are raised.  I believe that we need to work on crafting a society that is gender neutral.  This would be a healthier society and would allow us to determine which differences between men and women are innate, and which are socially constructed.  Our society still has gender roles and we still raise sons differently than daughters, so a great deal of our behavior is NOT because of innate differences, but because we've been brainwashed to act that way.

One important point:  Even if it does turn out that nearly all the differences between men and women are innate, it MUST be understood by everyone that these differences DO NOT constitute justification to treat people unfairly because of their s*x.

Answer 7

Discovery Channel has done a Segment on Genders called "The Sexes", so has ABC hardly a part of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy. MRIs and PET Scans reveal areas of the male brain are active under stimuli that are not in the Female Brain. And that there are essentially two Brains, a Male Brain and a Female Brain. That the Major Gender Contributors continue to cling to a disproven and outdated myth, is quite revealing.

But it  is hardly surprising. That Political Correctness trumps truth is what Feminism is all about. That Feelings are more important than Truth is a hall mark of Feminism. That they have openly stated such, reveals they are not Equity Feminists. That they do in fact embrace Radical Gender Feminist dogma. Thanks for outing yourselves Ladies.

Answer 8

I believe that the internal differences are greater than male/female differences (e. g. a woman may well have much more in common with a man than with another woman.) Anyway, why does it matter? There may be differences between redheads and blondes too, but no one thinks that's important enough to do a study... as far as I know.

Answer 9

Man that guy is a crazy! What is he even talking about?

In answer to your question, I'm a feminist and I believe that while there are innate gender differences (obviously, look at biology and the chemicals floating around in our bodies), they are greatly exaggerated by environment, upbringing, and social conditioning. "You must act within the set parameters of acceptable actions for your gender in order to be attractive to the opposite s*x" and all those other things which society teaches you.

In reality, the differences person to person are much greater than differences from gender to gender.

Answer 10

Personally, I doubt the last chapter has been written on this issue, we are all in a state of ongoing learning.

What I DO know is that people are often VERY keen to force others to behave in ways that make the majority comfortable, and those who step outside the line are often treated with hostility and harshness.

This very fact leads me to believe that almost all  gender 'differences' are socially constructed, although there are occasions when I wonder at certain aspects of this.

Time will tell which ~ if any ~ are innate, and which are not, and this period of learning the fullness of our own potential as individual humans apart from 'roles', 'gender' or whatever could be an incredibly rich and rewarding time for our species ... if only we let it.

Cheers :-)

Answer 11

s*x is innate. Gender is socially constructed. The line between s*x and gender is often blurry.

Answer 12

Yes.