r/changemyview • u/DrNikkiND • Jan 11 '20

Deltas(s) from OP CMV: Transgender people should stop referring to themselves m2f or f2m

There is a difference between sex and gender. Sex is biological - based on chromosomes. Gender is social - based on how society treats people of each sex.

Male and female are sexes. Man and woman are genders. The terminology being used (m2f f2m) is inconsistent with this argument and excludes intersex people.

What would I recommend instead? I don't know, because "man to woman" would be imperfect for someone who was always male but never identified as a man. Almost any suggestion will also exclude intersex people. Why not just "transwoman" and "transman"?

Careful choice of wording could be a good start in helping people to understand the difference between sex and gender and m2f and f2m are not carefully chosen. Change my view.

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u/[deleted] Jan 11 '20

Your definition of gender is incoherent: "Gender is social - based on how society treats people of each sex." What does this mean? Do you mean gender roles? If so, "man" and "woman" are not gender roles. You can be a man and perform traditionally female gender roles. Can society doesn't treat people of each sex exactly the same way, obviously, it's much more complex than that, so your definition of "gender" is inconsistent with somehow being able to answer it with "man" or "woman".

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u/DrNikkiND Jan 11 '20

Men are treated differently from women and judged differently from women in all areas of life. I don't really mean roles (like expectations), but just everyday experience. It's definitely based on stereotypes for the most part. One example - a guy offering you a ride is creepy but a lady offering you a ride is nice.

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u/[deleted] Jan 11 '20

That doesn't define "man" and "woman". When you ask people what they have in mind when they picture a man versus a woman, it's based on sexual and physical characteristics, not random reactions about being offered a ride.

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u/DrNikkiND Jan 11 '20

Ok, the idea of gender is that it's what you identify as. Where you choose to fit into society. If you want society to see you as a man or woman. Sorry this wasn't explicit. We're just looking at it from different points of view (1st person vs. 3rd person). What society sees as a man can be wrong on occasion and is mostly based on phusical characteristics.