The idea that "biological sex" and "gender" are not directly linked to and reflective of each other is, itself, a purely social construct. The idea that we can or should separate "sex" and "gender" is, itself, a relatively new social construct. Since we're talking about what is or isn't a social construct, and all.
Funny how humans managed to survive in our current form for 10,000 years, but only in the past decade have we tried to force other people to ignore everything they've ever learned or experienced in relation to anatomical biology, in favor of protecting the tender and sensitive feels of the mentally ill.
We're normalizing and mainstreaming psychological delusion, and that's not a good solution. The increased risk of suicide among those identifying as "transgender" is somewhere around 40%. Mainstreaming delusion won't address the underlying MENTAL ILLNESS that "transgendered" individuals are suffering from.
We shouldn't treat the symptoms of gender dysphoria with dishonesty and lies. We should treat the MENTAL DISORDER, itself. Even if 100% of the people on the planet were fine with accepting a post-op "transgendered" individual as the gender they are pretending to be, that wouldn't change the MENTAL ILLNESS they are suffering from. Their increased risk of suicidality would be exactly what it is, today, even if the whole world was willing to become liars and mollycoddlers.
The thought that sex and gender are the same is also a social construct. Yeah, this new age definition of gender is a relatively new social construct, but being new doesn't take any credibility away from it. Lots of things are new. We survived 10,000 years without the internet. That's no reason to suggest we'd be fine without it today. Times change, we learn new things, and mentally we evolve. We thought the Earth was flat for 10,000 years. We've only known it was round for about 2,000 years.
Our understanding today is that your biological sex and gender aren't the same thing. We've moved on (or at least try to move on) from times where stereotypes were so common. There were times where people expected men and women to have certain rights, certain jobs, dress a certain way, etc. We now live in a time where people have been liberated from those ideas. And "gender" is an extension of that liberation and is a way of differentiating you from what was expected of you based on the past stereotypical view of your biological sex.
So when someone says "all those other genders aren't real", that's like someone telling you how you live your life isn't real or your preference isn't real. As if someone's telling you how you
should be and what you
should look like. Imagine being called mental because you like something that society decided you shouldn't like. Sounds ridiculous. Their preference is as real as whether or not you prefer pineapple on your pizza. Gender is basically how you live your life. There's no "wrong" way to do it. And since there are so many ways to go about it, it has to be non-binary. So yes, there
are more than two genders. If you think there are only two, then you're thinking of "sex", not "gender". Gender isnt the same as sex today.
Regarding suicides, looking into suicide rates of transgender and homosexual people in society is of course going to show some correlation when we're talking about a group of people who usually have to live their lives without social acceptance. The suicide rates are higher in poor people compared to the rich. Is being poor a mental disorder? You're over twice as likely to commit suicide if you're divorced. Does that suggest being divorced is a mental illness? It seems pretty clear to me that the people who commit suicide are those who hate their lives. Plain and simple. Maybe if we accepted these people, some of them wont want to kill themselves. Its funny how recently we've seen a significant improvement in suicide rates of gay and lesbian people, specifically in states where same sex marriage has become legal. Surely not a coincidence.
If you cant understand or agree upon the modern definition of gender, that doesn't mean you simply chalk it up as being a mental disorder. 5,000 years ago, people would've called you mental if you said the Earth was round.
Now while I may seem like I'm being some kind of social justice warrior here, I still firmly believe that too many boundaries are being pushed. For example, I don't think a female that used to be a male, should be allowed to compete with other females in professional sports. So I'm not saying a female who used to be a male, should be treated like a female. Our problem IMO is that when people say "man" or "woman", we dont know whether we're talking about sex or gender. Things like sports or even restrooms should strictly be divided by biological sex. I dont agree with pretending a man is a woman just because that person made some life choices.
But having said that, the topic of the thread here was about there only being two genders, and I think that's wrong. Its natural that if you're opposing the idea of transgender people being accepted into society like traditional male or females, that you reject the credibility of their gender. How we accommodate them in society is a different discussion altogether though.
There are more than two genders, whether we like it or not.
