I swear I’m not Jessica

blahaj.zone account for @TotallynotJessica@lemmy.world

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Joined 5 months ago
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Cake day: October 30th, 2024

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  • You are taking the science of neuro-correlates beyond what can really be said, especially for something as multifaceted as gender.

    For example, how does one parse the causes of gender itself from dimorphic sex/gender differences?

    There are numerous psychological traits that tend to correlate heavily with sex, and from what limited research exists on trans people, correlate based on identified gender as well. However, it would be totally false to say that these traits are determinant of gender, as many people don’t fit within those generalizations. In all likelihood, few people probably follow the trends aligning with their gender to the letter. Most women have a handful of things that they differ from other women on, and it is the same with men. These traits cannot be understood as the cause of gender with current data, and any theory that claims to do so would be speculation at best. So whenever you look at these neurocorrelates of gender, you must recognize that they might not be due to gender itself. The differences between different gendered brains is important, but it could actually be measuring dimorphic traits instead of gender itself.

    Also, the way you dismiss genderfluidity as not a genuine identity is serious overreach. There are few studies on nonbinary identities in general, so saying things about them like that isn’t scientific. It seems more based on your own experience of gender than anything else. For all you know, there is a constant fluidity to everyone’s gender, with some having more than others. Maybe you never dip into another gender, but how can you say others don’t?

    We also can’t say that gender truly does not change, only that we don’t know how it could change, and that all attempts to alter it carry near certain risk of serious harm. There aren’t many elements of our psychology or personality that can never change, as our brains are physical substrates that can change in countless ways. The fact that we’ve seen little evidence of gender changing with brain damage indicates that it is a more distributed phenomenon. This makes it similar to consciousness, which does not have clear correlates either.

    We are at the infancy of understanding gender, and psychology in general is in its infancy. You’re missing the point in how you’re interpreting the evidence. It’s ok to simply not know. It’s ok to not have an answer. That’s a fundamental part of all science.