Since “sex” is usually defined as biological, and thus by definition not cultural (“gender”), then this statement seems nonsensical or underspecified. Could you clarify it with “sex” tabooed?
Phenotype is physical and not (completely) determined by genetics. A physical form that is, for whatever reason, a certain shape may be defined by social construction to be “female” or male” depending on the details of the culture. Most obvious applications here would be whether a guy who has operations to get some pieces cut off and takes some hormones is called a “female”, whether people who place dress-ups but mean it are called their desired sex and whether someone born with testicles and no ovaries but looking like this is a female).
“Socially constructed” is usually a fancy way of saying “taught”.
Bodies are out there in the world, part of the territory. The idea that some of them are “male” bodies and some are “female” bodies is something that is taught to kids. That doesn’t mean it’s thereby right or wrong: the existence of God and of electrons are both things that are taught, too.
In the case of electrons, the things that are taught about them have been checked against the territory in a lot of ways, although not entirely. (For instance, a lot of people would tell you that nothing that runs on a couple of AA batteries can give you a deadly shock: batteries are safe; wall current is dangerous. This is wrong.) In the case of God, the things that are taught are not really checked against the territory so much. And in the case of maleness and femaleness, it’s kind of in between. There is a lot of fallacious thinking that gets passed off (mistaking of statistical generalizations for universal truths, for instance) and a lot of data that kind of get swept under the rug because they make someone uncomfortable — kind of in the same way that people who believe in a nice friendly God like to sweep uncomfortable data under the rug, too.
The quality of thinking about sex (i.e. male and female bodies) is not as rigorous as the thinking about electrons (and most people have a lot of wrong ideas about those!) but it’s not as fuzzy as the thinking about God. But one of the things people are taught about sex is that they’re supposed to be very sure of it. And that’s a recipe for bad rationality.
Phenotype is physical and not (completely) determined by genetics. A physical form that is, for whatever reason, a certain shape may be defined by social construction to be “female” or male” depending on the details of the culture. Most obvious applications here would be whether a guy who has operations to get some pieces cut off and takes some hormones is called a “female”, whether people who place dress-ups but mean it are called their desired sex and whether someone born with testicles and no ovaries but looking like this is a female).
“Socially constructed” is usually a fancy way of saying “taught”.
Bodies are out there in the world, part of the territory. The idea that some of them are “male” bodies and some are “female” bodies is something that is taught to kids. That doesn’t mean it’s thereby right or wrong: the existence of God and of electrons are both things that are taught, too.
In the case of electrons, the things that are taught about them have been checked against the territory in a lot of ways, although not entirely. (For instance, a lot of people would tell you that nothing that runs on a couple of AA batteries can give you a deadly shock: batteries are safe; wall current is dangerous. This is wrong.) In the case of God, the things that are taught are not really checked against the territory so much. And in the case of maleness and femaleness, it’s kind of in between. There is a lot of fallacious thinking that gets passed off (mistaking of statistical generalizations for universal truths, for instance) and a lot of data that kind of get swept under the rug because they make someone uncomfortable — kind of in the same way that people who believe in a nice friendly God like to sweep uncomfortable data under the rug, too.
The quality of thinking about sex (i.e. male and female bodies) is not as rigorous as the thinking about electrons (and most people have a lot of wrong ideas about those!) but it’s not as fuzzy as the thinking about God. But one of the things people are taught about sex is that they’re supposed to be very sure of it. And that’s a recipe for bad rationality.
As a friendly addendum, I think your point that people are “supposed to be very sure of it” is an important part of the concept.
A more LW friendly version of this point is Paul Graham’s Keep Your Identity Small
Ah, I see. “Gender is not determined by sex.”