I see videos of Crowder types asking randos on the street to do it, and of course, they always stutter and stumble their way around what it is (if they're well intentioned - of course lots just say the usual man = penis and woman = vagina answer.)

Most of the people that get caught out are just well intentioned people whose philosophy on questions like this is 'who the fuck cares' (which is valid).

However, I'd rather not be caught out. Usually I try to immediately split it into sex Vs gender by just asking them to clarify - "what is a woman according to sex or what is a woman according to gender" and then I try to go from there.

What's a good line to trot out in answer to stuff like this? It would be nice if it could become almost a set phrase answer so it could catch on easily.

  • Abstraction [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    If it is asked in good faith, I would probably talk about how definitions aren't that useful when it comes to stuff like that, then say maybe something about gender/sex as an abstraction.

    If it is asked in bad faith, I would just make fun of the person asking the question, it's a pretty silly thing to ask so it should be pretty easy.

      • AcidSmiley [she/her]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Mine is "a woman is anybody who understands themselves as one". It rules out bad faith actors who go "oh well i'm a woman now :very-intelligent: " and it works better to describe my experience than "feeling like a woman" or "identifying as a woman" or anything like that.

          • AcidSmiley [she/her]
            ·
            2 years ago

            This stuff is hard to package in single sentences. There's always so much going on, this trans stuff really cracks the entire gender thing open and you can see all the parts laying there, and it's a ton of parts, and all of them are moving and interlock. It's really no surprise chuds are so scared of trans folks, just us going about our day can wreck a hundred things they took for granted.