Please don't take this offensively, I'm trying to learn. Could you please explain to me the different between women and men? Because besides of physically I can't see the difference and that's why when people ask me my gender I don't know what to answer. Non-binary, female... I always say yes. Because in the 21st century we're breaking the steorotypes surrounding women and men so these don't define them. So what's the difference?
Your question more or less boils down to âWhat is gender?â, which is sort-of impossible to answer. The kind of direct, empirical difference between different genders that youâre looking for doesnât exist, so it must be that gender isnât a thing; but at the same time, many people have an innate, intuitive sense of their own gender. Whatâs going on here?
Some statements about the world are true, like âHigh pitch sounds have a shorter wavelength than low pitch soundsâ or âI like hot chocolateâ, and some statements about the world are false, like âEveryone is a native speaker of Englishâ or âI like coffeeâ. Sometimes, especially for statements about yourself, you can get a sort-of âtruth value feelingâ out of a statement. âI like hot chocolateâ feels innately true to me in a way that âI like coffeeâ doesnât.Â
Gender can be the same way. Part of why I know Iâm nonbinary is that âIâm nonbinaryâ feels right and âIâm a girlâ and âIâm a boyâ feel wrong in some way. Iâm not thinking in terms of stereotypes or behavior or clothing or presentation or anything else, just in terms of what feels right. Gender is socially constructed and thus heavily informed by dated stereotypes and traditions like âboys donât wear dressesâ, but that doesnât mean it doesnât exist. People are the gender they are because they feel that way, because they feel like they are that gender.Â
If that didnât make sense to you and/or you donât have an internal, innate sense of gender, you might be agender. If you find the label helpful, you can go ahead and start using it, but if you donât want to for any reason thatâs okay too. And if youâre not sure if itâs right for you, you can always try it on for a bit and see how it feels.Â
Hope that helps, as always feel free to ask for clarification/any follow up questions.Â