Based on BearFan's comments, he or she didn't embrace the gender neutral claim until he or she read it or heard it from an ideologue.

There are many. Same as in the wild.

egalindo, agrees with BearFan but has dropped out of the conversation.

The issue is: Are there any differences between men and women other than body parts. BearFan says there is no difference i.e. all male and female characteristics displayed by men and women are products of culture.

What is gender neutral? They have no gender?
Neutral meaning neither man nor woman?
Shall we call them slabs of flesh?
Human is a stereotype. We are human not ape. Or are we?
Since we evolved from the ape, to call us humans is degrading to the ape.
Maybe the problem can be solved by calling everyone homosexual.
No, that won’t work because of the word homo. Maybe dual sexual.
I’m so confused. What do They want us all to be called.
Maybe the word they is a stereotype to them. Just say, YOU.
Hey YOU. A name like Steve, Darren, Greg, Mark, John or Bill
Would be a stereotype name. I say if you have a son, ( sorry, son is a stereotype) if you have an IT, And it has hanging flesh between its legs you may now call IT a Thing.
Now we need cigars that say, It’s a THING with hanging flesh between ITS legs.
Or IT’S a THING without Hanging flesh between ITS legs.
There. That should make everyone happy. We are now a non gender society.

BearFan, do any of the gender neutral females you know wear makeup?

That is, do the gender neutral females you know wear makeup in greater proportion than the gender neutral males you know?

@Gazettefan yes, I have met many gender neutral people. As to polite things about females who display "feminine" qualities, I haven't said anything not polite. I accept people as they are whether they act feminine or masculine (even if that doesn't match their genitalia). I may have an atypical psychological bend or political agenda, but the same could've been said about the leaders of woman's suffrage and I would say that's not a bad thing.

Millions of women have allowed their lives to be damaged by embracing the myth that human nature is gender neutral.

That myth is part of an ideology that fuels a certain political agenda to the benefit of its most ambitious and prominent ideologues. Others embrace the myth to accommodate an atypical psychological bent.

BearFan, do you have anything polite to say about the women who make up the great majority of the world's female population in the matter of their display of feminine qualities?

And what about the success of women entering the workplace who maintain a disproportionate attention to their appearance? Doesn't their success over-power and substantially relieve them of the "gender typing" of disproportionate attention to their appearance?

Or would you characterize them as witting or unwitting victims of "gender typing"?

And aside from sources outside yourself (the writers you cited) have you actually been able to detect gender neutral personalities somewhere embedded in any of the male and female gender typing of the people you know and have met?

@gazettefan also, your comment about smaller people and physical confrontation is not accurate either...have you ever watched UFC? Hoyce Gracie has the most wins and he is probably the smallest fighter ever to compete in the UFC.

@Gazettefan do you really want a reading list? Anything by Judith Butler would be fine...but if you don't trust a book about gender written by a woman, you could read Ion by Plato to get the general idea. I would be happy to loan you some old textbooks if you're really interested. Maybe you should start by just googleing "gender" first. It might be easier to start there. Do you really think that girls come out of the womb wanting to play with Barbies and boys come out wanting to play with trucks? That just makes no sense without even getting philosophical.

Bearfan and egalindo, how did you form your opinions that masculinity and femininity are only culturally dictated?

And what do you make of the fact that even though there are more and more women in all facets of the workplace their attention to their appearance hasn't diminished and is still much greater than the amount of attention men give to their appearance?

By the way, smaller physiques are not automatically compensated for my cunning etc., it depends on the individual. Generally, smaller people are at a disadvantage in physical confrontations.

The gender roles in this and every other society are completely constructed and passed down not genetically but by learning what is "correct" by watching people, tv, etc. The "normal" male and female traits are acquired by societal and religious peer pressure. If women were needed to hunt, be the bread winner, or have any other trait that is now considered "masculine" the idea of what is feminine would change. From the time a baby is born they are bombarded with images of what they should be like. Gender is essentially an act. Yes, women can have babies and can breast feed...that is the only difference between them and males. The advantage men have in upper body strength is easily compensated for by cunning, or willpower.

@gazettefan There are lots of differences between human bodies that carry a constructed social value just like gender. Think of the value of young versus old bodies, able versus bodies with disabilities, fat versus thin bodies. We put our social values on some differences and others like hair color and shoe size get less attention. We could also divide the world into people under 5 feet 3 inches and people over.

I remember back in the 50's in junior high the two most popular colors were pink and charcoal gray.

Haha....interesting article.
Back in the late 50's and early 60's in high school a guy wouldn't get caught dead wearing pink or yellow, especially on Thursdays!!!
But times have changed, and although they are not my colors, men, or women wear whatever they want today, and it sure does not matter to me.
Hopefully today, (the color doesn't mean crap), it is rather how much of them is covered !! lol

KENNY POWERS.......WELL SAID

egalindo, gender is not like race. Male and female bodies are genuinely different. Racial differences are only superficial. There are no humans that are genuinely physically different from other humans like males and females are different from each other.

Is it your contention that if there were no "gender-typing" men and women would dress the same with no distinction between male and female attire?

Some people’s attitudes towards men wearing pink are bizarre. I guess some people are just more comfortable in their own skin (or in this case a pink shirt) than others. I own a pink dress shirt and a couple of pink ties. I also own purple, black, blue, white, and numerous other shades of dress shirts and ties.
.
If a man wearing a specific color truly bugs you, then you likely have some deep rooted issues with perception and reality that need to be addressed before the next time you step out in public. This is 2012; denim shirts and Work ‘n Sport steel toed boots aren’t your only clothing options anymore.
.
To those anti-pink-wearing-commies still listening: put away the Canadian Tuxedo and get yourself a pink shirt.

@Gazettefan Yes. Gender just like language, reading, etc. It is a system of symbols and it is learned. If a child is not exposed to the Chinese language or writing/reading they don't automatically use the system. Gender is the same. If they are not exposed to the system of norms-they do not automatically perform masculine or feminine genders.

I really like it when guys wear pink or salmon it looks really good on some guys..i will say that not all guys can pull those colors off....

There is no reason that guys can't wear pink. My son who is now 23 wore a pink tuxedo to his junior prom and looked fantastic. He also had quite a few pink t-shirts, shorts, swim trunks, dress shirts and chuck taylor tennis shoes. Nothing wrong with pink on a guy

How about tranny legos?

nicksmom, if there were no "gender typing" would there be absolutely no difference (other than physical) between males and females?

Isn't this supposed to be Knox's blog.

It is IMO the adults that stereotype the toys. 3 year olds will play with anything. It always drove me crazy when I would take my son through the drive through for a happy meal, and have to answer the question..."will that be a toy for a boy, or girl?" I would simply answer, "yes". Must be where the gazette poll writers got it.

Absolutely toys are gender typed at very early ages. People will probably think I'm weird but I bought my 5 year old son a tutu last year because he asked to wear mine and I don't have one. He wears it on rare occasion & has played with makeup and I have also painted his toes at his request in all different colors. It's not something we do routinely but I think as parents we should encourage this natural curiosity & let kids decide what they like and who they are despite what societal stereotypes dictate.

Only a real man can pull off a pink shirt....I have several. I doubt anyone would doubt my heterosexuality based on what color shirt I wear, nor would I care. If someone has issues wearing a color based on gender norms, then they probably aren't comfortable in their sexuality.

egalindo, is it your contention that twin siblings born one male and one female and not subjected to "male" and "female" influences would not early or later in life manifest (other than physical) any gender differences?

USARET, I agree with you 100%, I've seen some men wear very nice pink dress shirts and they looke very handsome. (I am not a man either) and I wear black, blue, brown, gray, purple.

Pink is a feminine color. As long as there is judgemental people out there (90% of the population or more) you'll always look feminine if you wear pink. If you're a guy and thats your thing....so be it. Just make sure to pick out the right shade of nail polish when you start using that.

Sorry...typo...I meant shorts.

A guy can't wear pink because it would mean he's not a guy. Even asking the question suggests someone wants to come out of the closet.

Thank you for subverting the gender norms and helping to unmask the constructedness of gender Greg! There is no essential natural gender identity. Humans with certain biological features are taught to behave one way and those with other features are taught to behave another way. The end result is the social subordination of women and people who identify as LGBTQ to the normativity of masculine heterosexuality. Even when women wear pink to play up their femininity they are impersonating and "doing drag" whether the sex underneath is true or not.

I once had a comfortable pair of white satin shorts that I wore to the YMCA. They were great for exercise. However, after a few months my wife washed them with some of her red items. Voila, I had pink shorts. But being confident in my masculinity, I wore them to the Y anyway. I had some strange looks and one guy even complimented me on how I looked in them. That day I learned a very important lesson. I now wash my own exercise clothing.

Oh, I love pink...just not in my shirts.

Not too long ago blue used to be the color for girls. Where did pink come from (hint: link below).
I have a black t-shirt with an icon of the Invisible Pink Unicorn on it. It's not a picture of a real Pink Unicorn, because it is invisible.
http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2...

My daughter likes legos and wants the ones specifically for girls. There are not very many of them. She is not at all interested in the star wars, rescue, airport, etc, lego sets, even though they are really cool and much bigger. I would not have complained about it if Lego never made another "girly" set, but I think its cool that they are giving EVERYONE more options...

ImBack: Must every topic be about the latest political slugfest? If so, then you're reading the wrong blog. Check out my blogging history; I've written on plenty of lighter topics; I'm free to explore most any topic I want in this space. Do you never have dessert after your meat and potatoes?
Greg Peck

Here's an idea: stop buying into the consumer-made idea that there has to be a boy and girl brand of everything.

It certainly is a mystery
why men are attracted
to the color pink.

What is the real issue here? That pink is not exclusively a feminine color? Or that except for some body parts there's no difference between men and women?

The second question has been answered by the latest research on the subject.

Ya, well, whatever.

Men wear White, Black, Blue, Gray. Real men wear whatever they want.

The real question to be answered Greg is whether those dress shirts were pink before you did the laundry!

Greg, you can certainly wear pink if you wish but you won't catch me dead in it and there's none of it in my closet.

I'm not sure how a clothing line titled "Pigtail Pals" isn't stereotyping or why a female child can't built a Star Wars lego set.

I look around me and I see female police officers, astronaunts, professional athletes, business owners, doctors and truck drivers etc.