this is bioessentialism

Meir or Eden, he/they/it

[this-is-bioessentialism]

Inspired by other this-is blogs. This time about bioessentialism.

My main: @the-starfinder

My other blogs: @agenital-spectrum-culture-is @ambiguousgenitalia-culture-is @urethral-variations-culture-is and @cocsa-survivors-experience

There are different definitions of bioessentialism, but the general idea is that it is a belief system that our behaviours, abilities, social roles, certain characteristics and other things like this are inherently linked to our biology and genetics. It ignores socialisation and environmental and cultural factors. It is also connected to the belief that people, as many aspects of them are predisposed by biology, cannot change a lot of things about themselves. There are different sub categories of the term. But one big category is manly connected to gender and sex and the other is to variety of things that are related to the topic such as eugenics, what people call "scientific" racism, basis of sexuality, etc. This blog is mostly focused on the gender and sex part, but I am also okay with the discussion of the latter topics as long as I can more or less be sure that the ask is okay(whether it comes to something that is related to my experience and I have a say in it or it is something that I've heard from people about the experiences that I don't have).

You can ask questions, but I can't promise I will be able to answer. I might post for other people to answer though, but I can't be responsible for the quality of the information.

I have a right not to post an ask if I decide so for whatever reason.

I may not immediately post all the asks, but space them out or put in the queue for the next day(s), depending on how many asks I'll get. Don't worry if I don't post yours immediately while posting others. Yeah, as I've mentioned, there are asks that I may not post at all, but most of the time it's just in my drafts or in the queue waiting.

[profile design description: the avatar is a part of the progressive lgbtq+ flag. there are horizontal lines: red, orange, yellow, green, dark blue, purple. and on the left there is a triangle (from left to right) with intersex flag - yellow with a purple circle, trans flag colours - white, pink, blue, also brown and black. the header is the same. the background is black and the name is purple.]

[this-is-bioessentialism]

My family is shamelessly racist and they tell me that racism is natural just because animals in nature reject those who are different from them in order to protect their race. Is this a type of bioessentialism?

yes, this is bioessentialism

//

sorry about posting with a delay

[the-starfinder]

sorry about not posting for a while, i'm gonna go through the asks in all the blogs as soon as i can.

[vibebeast]

was told by my friend (and one of the few other trans people i know irl) that testosterone makes trans men "emotionless" and "angry all the time". i really fucking wish other trans people werent so obsessed with perpetuating the "estrogen makes you weak and emotional" and "testosterone makes you a violent monster" bullshit. i thought we left bioessentialism at the door when we transitioned.

[cocsa-survivors-experience]

This is a blog for people who have gone through COCSA (child on child sexual abuse) or suspect they have experienced it.

My main: @the-starfinder

My other blogs: @agenital-spectrum-culture-is @ambiguousgenitalia-culture-is @urethral-variations-culture-is and @this-is-bioessentialism

This is a place for people to discuss their experience, vent about it, ask questions, etc. It is important that I am not The Gatekeeper of The Experience, it's not my place to decide whether you've gone through COCSA or not. If you have questions about it, I can give you some navigation stemming from my opinion. But it is not my place to define your experience.

Difference kinds of bigotry, such as homophobia, intersexism, transphobia, exorsexism, aphobia, antisemitism, racism, ableism, saneism(yes, including cluster b stigmatisation, which i sadly need to specifiy), fatphobia, sexism, ageism, classism, and others, are prohibited and I am allowed to freely block and otherwise apply rules in the community.

It is not a confessional place for those who want to discuss their experience as perpetrators of COCSA while they specifically know they are perpetrators. While these discussions are important and there should be such spaces, this one is not for that. But if it is a situation where you feel you may have been a perpetrator, but you are not sure, feel free to send an ask. I may change the initial rule if it end ups complicating talking about their experience for others.

I have a right not to post an ask if I decide so for whatever reason.

I may not immediately post all the asks, but space them out or put in the queue for the next day(s), depending on how many asks I'll get. Don't worry if I don't post yours immediately while posting others. Yeah, as I've mentioned, there are asks that I may not post at all, but most of the time it's just in my drafts or in the queue waiting.

[profile design description: the avatar is a photo of a field of sunflowers - they have a big brown circle in the middle and yellow petals around, behind them there is a bright sunlight. there is no header. the profile background is yellow. the name is dark brown.]

[agenital-spectrum-culture-is]

my new blog that is not related to the topics of my culture-is and this-is blogs, but may interest someone.

[this-is-bioessentialism]

bio-essentialism is how the characters look and act in the average straight romance manhwa. bio-essentialism is also people refusing to draw fat and buff women. bio-essentialism is also "genderbent" versions of lots of fictional men being skinnier, shorter and more conventionally-attractive.

this is bioessentialism

[the-starfinder]

this is the admin of the blogs:

@agenital-spectrum-culture-is

@ambiguousgenitalia-culture-is

@urethral-variations-culture-is

@this-is-bioessentialism

i realised that it is inconvenient to just have multiple different blogs at the same time without a "root" one, so i dug up my old inactive blog with only a few posts and edited it a bit. maybe i'll make it active, idk, but it's not strictly intersex-related.

so if you want to contact me outside of the topics of the the culture-is or this-is blogs, while you can still do it on them, you can also do it here.

and, if i have a post that may be connected to a topic of, e.g., culture-is blog, but is more general(example, that is gonna happen: coining of a flag, that is related to the blog's topic), i will post it here(general) and reblog there(culture-is).

[urethral-variations-culture-is]

Inspired by other culture-is blogs. This time about urethral intersex variations.

My other blogs: @agenital-spectrum-culture-is @ambiguousgenitalia-culture-is and @this-is-bioessentialism

Urethral variations are very under-researched and not talked much about among intersex people. I don't see many spaces for people with such variations and it's difficult to find information and community. (speaking from personal experience.) If you have a urethra-related variation or you are questioning, feel free to send an ask. Full disclosure for whatever situation may arise: I am not The Gatekeeper Of The Community.

You can send asks both with "urethral variations culture is..." formatting and without, but keep it on the intersex topic. You can ask questions, but it is very much possible I won't be able to answer. I might post for other people to answer though, but I can't be responsible for the quality of the information. Feel free to vent on the topic with a note for me not to post or in PM.

I have a right not to post an ask if I decide so for whatever reason.

I may not immediately post all the asks, but space them out or put in the queue for the next day(s), depending on how many asks I'll get. Don't worry if I don't post yours immediately while posting others. Yeah, as I've mentioned, there are asks that I may not post at all, but most of the time it's just in my drafts or in the queue waiting.

Current flag used as the avatar(description below) is the hypospadias flag as I haven't found one for urethral variations in general so I just took one related that was easy to find.

[profile design description: the avatar is a part of the hypospadias flag. the background is a horizontal light green line on the top and orange and light blue squares on the bottom, in the front there is a white vertical line that has three white arcs going around it. there is no header. the profile background is yellow. the name is purple.]

[hellofmychoice]

The idea that Testosterone is a “more powerful” hormone than Estrogen is just blatant sexism btw.

[hellofmychoice]

Okay so this is why understanding the intersection of misogyny and transmasculinity is important, because this is how people talk about trans men on T:

[this-is-bioessentialism]

A video called “memes only boys can understand” and the thumbnail had one meme about testicles (you heard it here first folks: those are a boys only thing! Girls with balls do not exist! /sarcasm) and one meme about being nervous to open your laptop in public because what if you didn’t close your Naughty Videos you were using it to watch (boys always watch porn! Girls never do!)

this is bioessentialism, sexism, transphobia and intersexism

[this-is-bioessentialism]

The (kinda transandrophobic and misogynistic btw) idea that going on E will make you introverted and going on T will give you a temper. Even at least one otherwise credible source on what to expect with HRT says this. It’s like… no? You can feel more confident to speak your mind if you have the right hormones now, and you can feel less irritable for the same reason, but hormones don’t change your personality.

this is bioessentialism, transandrophobia, transmisogyny and pseudoscience

[this-is-bioessentialism]

My psychology teacher saying that men and women act different because of their brains

Also him saying that all women should be chased by men and not the other way around

Also him saying women don't make enough money because they don't go into the coal mines (???? I asked him if he wanted to go into the coal mines and he said no so idk what the point of that was????)

this is bioessentialism, sexism, misogyny and pseudoscientific

[this-is-bioessentialism]

there is an ask i would prefer not to post. usually i would just leave it like that, but this time i think i need to post this because of the anon's situation(although i am honestly not sure if i am making it better or worse). there is gonna be a bit of an explanation of the situation, but i won't share the exact things that were said in the ask.

1) for anon: sorry to hear that you are going through this.

2) for anon: in one of the things it's not my place to answer. it is related to racism. and specifically from the word choice, i can suspect that it is the us defaultism version of topic. (or at least if anon is not from the us, it is somewhere with similarly adapted system. or it is online and we go back to us defaultism in the english speaking part of the internet. but my living situation has always been in places with different views on race/ethnicity and related discrimination comparably to the us. okay, so, us defaultism is a whole huge another topic. but the conclusion is that this specific situation (in the suspected region-based system) you mentioned is not for me to judge. among people who can speak on the topic, i've heard different opinions.

3) for anon: i could answer more about the men situation. and yes, it is actually bioessentialism. and it is a super complicated thing when a potentially expected reaction to discrimination kinda goes out of hand. and i have an opinion about how sexism and misogyny are different structurally in many ways comparably to most other discriminations(of course, also region and culture based). and so you can't really group men this way without transphobia and intersexism. like, not in a stereotypical "not all men" answer to complains about sexism/mysoginy. but from an analysis of gender and sex. basically, it is a super complicated topic too.

4) for anon: i know that it is very difficult, especially with your condition(not autism, the other one). i actually have the same one, even though just based on a small piece of information, we experience it differently. i don't know if my personal copying mechanisms would help. but i try to analyse it as some kind of a science project. and i've heard other people with the same problem do that too. so you kinda separate it from yourself. it is based on dissociation, so it's not really perfect. but unless/untill you can work on managing your condition, it is an option. but as a conclusion for the paragraph: i absolutely can understand your reaction but at the same time people are also saying these things not from nothing, whether some of the things are okay or not. and yeah, it can be complicated to interpret, let's call it, double meaning when people say something or see situations from other people's perspective. but it is absolutely not okay how people in your life react to the situations, when you talk about your problems, with ableism and fucking slurs. these people are absolutely not in any way accepting and supportive towards autistic people. like, it's one thing to disagree with your position, but instead they personally attack with discriminatory bullshit. and people absolutely should not discriminate people they dislike, whether it's just a small thing or it is actually a terrible person — anywhere on that spectrum you can criticise someone, but not while being a shitstain bigot.

5) both for anon and other people: and about slurs. this paragraph is for knowledge and i don't negativity judge you for possibly not knowing the situation. also, i may be mistaken in assumptions and i will mention the specifics. well, it's good that you put "r slur" in tw. but later you used the full word. so, many people even in neurodivergent community and specifically autistic people think that it is a general slur either for all neurodivergent people, or specifically for people with neurodevelopmental disorders or specifically autism. but actually this is a slur that is connected first and foremost to people with intellectual disability. and it's only for them to use. (not just my thoughts, based on what i've heard from people in the community.) here i may be assuming things a bit, that you don't have an intellectual disability and i absolutely may be mistaken.

6) for anon: i don't know what is possible for you and what's not. but i wish for you to get better if/when possible. and have people around you who aren't reacting to things with absolute ableism.

[this-is-bioessentialism]

is the phrase "ladies first" bioessentialism?

this is bioessentialism, sexism, misogyny and to some extent pseudoscience

//

before answering this ask, i actually read up on the history of the phrase. well, at least, in english. still, it's just something i looked up on several sources only just now so i can't promise that everything is 100% accurate. the conclusion would be the same even with some corrections though.

i've seen different hypotheses of the etymology of the phrase and i wil share some. but if (general) you is interested, i recommend googling it for more details, there are many articles.

(i am using binary language here as it is a part of the concept and women and men is about how society views the situation.)

universally agreed etymology of the modern usage came from shipwrecks in 19th and 20th century from the phrase "women and children first". while there is no actual maritime law related to women and shipwrecks, this phrase and idea was used several times back then. the first documented usage of this specific phrase was in the mid 19th century. instead the actual rules are about people in disadvantage like disabled people, elderly, etc. at least, that's what i found. this whole thing implies inherent weakness of women. and the ironic thing is that a study/studies found that women have severe disadvantage in survival rates in shipwrecks vs men.

the hypothetical etymology about the oldest usage of the concept i've seen is that it started in prehistoric times, where women were sent first into danger as men were deemed more "important for survival". obviously, we don't know all the cultures from that times, but there were at least some where it is believed to be common. it is also believed that the same tradition with same reasoning was present in the viking era and in some places in the middle ages.

so yeah, it is absolutely rooted in bioessentialism and the current usage totally misconstrues the actual history of the saying, trying to paint it in some kind of a positive light(which still would be benevolent sexism without the whole history).

[this-is-bioessentialism]

Parents making my younger brother hold and open doors and carry things for others etc etc because "he's a gentleman and it's his job"

this is bioessentialism and sexism

[this-is-bioessentialism]

Omg so many examples, but my biggest frustration is when people attach behavior to genitals. This is also connected to transphobia and intersexism because of "gender= your genitals(which excludes anyone outside the binary)" but the "girls when they do this: boys when they do that:" and it's just weird separation of activist purely because...idk one person has a penis and testicles and the other does not. Or the ways people turn opression based on one's gender identity of any kind into "man vs woman" which often also leads to "penis vs vagina" which 1)blatant intersexism and transphobia again but 2)makes no sense???? Ugh. 😮‍💨

this is bioessentialism, intersexism and transphobia

[this-is-bioessentialism]

"well women are just more emotional than men, that's why they don't get the tough jobs..."

this is bioessentialism, sexism and misogyny