Salad is a social construct. In California, where I grew up, a ‘salad’ was primarily (if not exclusively) used to refer to a dish whose main ingredient was lettuce. When I moved to the South I discovered that ‘salad’ could also include dishes whose primary ingredient was potatoes, cheese, broccoli, or even Jell-O. Ultimately we imbue certain dishes with the quality of ‘salad-ness’ based upon socially accepted characteristics, characteristics which can vary based on the region you come from, and which can also change over time.
Similarly, the concepts of gender and even sex are also social constructs. Many of us have grown up with the understanding that sex and gender are basically the same thing, and that there are only two (or maybe three) options. However, it might surprise you to learn (it sure surprised me) that this concept of a ‘sex binary’ is a relatively new one.
In his book Making Sex historian Dr. Thomas Laquer argues that our Western understanding has shifted from a “unisex” model to a “binary sex” model. Before the Enlightenment, males and females were viewed as being a part of one sex who displayed different ‘temperaments’. Males were thought to have a more hot/dry temperament (like the sun), females had more cold/moist temperament (like the moon). Sex non-conforming people (which have always existed) were understood to include both temperaments. Of course, those who had hot temperaments were considered superior physiologically and culturally.
The typology of two differentiated sexes began in the 18th and 19th centuries with the European Enlightenment. In 1803 the French physician Jacques Louis Moreau argued against the pre-enlightenment conceptions by saying that males and females were “different in every conceivable aspect of [the] body.” This shift coincided with (and used many of the same ‘scientific’ methods as) the eugenics movement which argued the essential “biological differences” (and therefore assumed hierarchy) between the races. This shift also coincided with the industrial revolution in which separation and differentiation based on sex served to justify the rights given to men and withheld from women (who were, of course, demonstrably inferior).
Today, these assumptions about sex (female, intersex, male, etc) and gender (feminine, non-binary, masculine, etc) are being understood less as a strict binary, and more as a spectrum of possibilities. Instead of enforcing socially constructed ideas of ‘masculinity’ or ‘femininity’ and forcing people into one of two boxes, some of us choose to see the spectacular spectrum of sex, sexuality, and gender that is expressed in actual human lives. Does this make things more complicated? Yes, it does; but it also allows all people to authentically be their truest selves. For me, that is worth it. One way to express this openness is to allow people to choose the pronouns that they wish to be referred to by.
This is part 2 of a series of weekly Newsletter articles that I am writing about why pronouns are important to include on your nametag. I will post the next one next week.