Gender Theatrics: A Much Needed Push-back?

I recently listened to several podcasts interviewing a neuroscientist specializing in sexual and gender issues named Dr. Debora Soh. I found that her views largely paralleled mine with regard to sex and gender actually being binary. Accordingly, gender fluidity represents only expressions of the binary and not distinct categories or a spectrum. This matches my assertions of a gradation instead of a spectrum, as I have noted in several previous blog articles.

I understand that Dr. Soh represents only one interpretation of the data, but her understanding does mesh well with other epistemological structures, including logic and theology. And Dr. Soh is not anti-LGTBQ+ in the least. She merely sees the points on the initialism line as expressions of the binary and not their own things. 

So what does this mean for the multiplicity of pronouns? 

While there may indeed be a couple-few people who feel so utterly distraught and lost between the binary, and while these cases need to approached with grace and compassion and caution, I think the vast majority of cases are merely theatrics. I see this as the new punk-rock where individuality is celebrated within the context of a rebelling community. Every expression of the binary is being re-labelled as its own unique thing; however, to be truly unique it has to be juxtaposed to a like-minded community. In the big picture, there really is no uniqueness at all. It's a trend and not core reality.

When I was a kid I played with my friend's doll house and dolls. Does my effeminate side change my gender? Was I not truly male when I played with my friend's Barbies? Was I a distinct thing and worthy of my very own pronouns? Gender, in my view, is not a social construct, though the trappings may be. In an older time, pink was actually the male color and blue was for girls. There are indeed social influences on how gender is expressed, but there is also evidence for a hardwired part. In one of her interviews, Dr. Soh cites a study (I believe from UCLA, but I can't recall) where newborn boys responded more to mechanical stimuli while the girls locked in on faces more. Perhaps hormones determine the strength and variations of the binary, but this doesn't mean it doesn't exist. 

Interesting stuff.  

 LINK