Posted this in /r/feminisms, nothing really happened, still interested in a discussion. Can you provide it?
I had endured long periods of turmoil before I formulated two simple rules, which from then on defined my whole gender policy. I wish to share them, because they are capable of solving social situations our current ideas of gender only aggravate.
Culture, language and etiquette all have a gender-dependent aspect and curing that would mean replacing a vast part of them. A person simply can't perform certain activities without being classified as either male or female. Therefore I say:
1)Gender is not a fixed constant for anyone.
2)Gender is a function of power.
I am a man to those inferior to me and a woman to those superior to me. Among friends and equals I am what I feel like being. What is exactly regarded to as superior or inferior can be agreeed upon, but it's usually the commonly accepted things- intelligence, authority, achievements.
Problems solved this way are mainly ones in social groups and relationships:
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In a couple with children, the inferior partner, the "woman" takes care of the children instead of chasing career and personal growth.
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In social groups, superior members are allowed to speak loudly and take up lots of space.
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The superior person has to be the one to make the first steps to establish a relationship.
The whole idea of these laws is justified by the fact that the gender stereotypes of the past are also power-based. But this power was rather physical than anything else. Nowadays what we refer to as superiority can be entirely different.
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