Differences between women and men.

[Edwardo Piet]

As a guy I can very rarely have multiple orgasms

[Gemini]

As a guy I can very rarely have multiple orgasms

T blockers and estrogen can fix that  

[Anomalocaris]

I don't think the differences between men and women run very deep. I think we are obviously different in some ways, like the different ways we interact with each others and the different natural strenghts and weaknesses more characteristic to a specific sex/gender or another, but I think those are only superficial.

This will bring up the transexual "debate", I'm sure. Me, I used not to know what to think about it, yet give my opinion on it nevertheless. Now I just don't know what to think about it, but I'd rather shut up than say something stupid.

I think the differences run as deep as the nucleus of every cell. But deep as the differences run, I don't think these differences make too much difference to personality.

[Bunburryist]

Considering the ubiquitous sexual differences in the animal kingdom, and the fact that we are part of that kingdom, it would be more than surprising if there weren't differences. Granted, we've civilized and technologized ourselves out of that world (to a certain extent), and no doubt the biological differences will become evened out, diluted, or I think more likely, disguised by social structures, dynamics, etc., but the differences between the sexes are real and perhaps not as undesirable as some people might think.

My tiny baby brother
Who's never read a book
Knows one sex from the other
All he had to do is look!
(Annie Get Your Gun)

[TheRealJoeFish]

Well... there are just so many things wrapped up into "what it means to be a human" - millions and millions of things, I'd venture. If it seems as though there is an infinitude of ways in which men and women are different, there is surely an infinitude of ways in which they are the same (and vice versa).

I guess, to try to state my point differently, the sets of "things that are the same about men and women", "things that are different about men and women biologically", and "things that are different about men and women, socially/culturally/non-biologically" are all so enormous that meaningful comparison among them is elusive.

For what it's worth:

One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.
- Simone de Beauvoir

[Little lunch]

The ways that women and men act is already well established.
This is the framework that children grow up with. It is unavoidable and inevitable.
If there are to be any changes that bring us towards a more sexless society, they will be small and take a long time.
After all, this is what has been happening since technological advances have been taking the power away from those with the most muscle.
We're just not all the way there yet.
Many people may envision an almost sexless society as being bland, where everyone acts the same.
Personally, I believe it would be much richer and full of variety, where men and women, who are all individuals, will be more freely able to express themselves.
I like to believe that the benefits of such a society would be peace and harmony, more creative thought, sexual freedom, and so on.

[Regina]

I think we're so strongly shaped by cultural gender norms that certain stereotypes become "truths". For example, all young male children express emotion, get upset, cry sometimes. However, the message of "men don't cry" is so pounded into us that by the time we become adults, it's just a "truth" that men don't, because we're less likely to because of how we've been trained or shamed out of it.

The "psychological differences" are mostly nurture over nature. Some men and women might naturally buck the normal trends, but most people get conditioned into them.

Gender is a social construct, the idea that there are certain norms that men must conform to and women must conform to.

With that said though, I'm not one of these people who sees physical sex as a social construct, as much as some of the transgender rights movement like to say it is. You genitals are very real, tangible things, as are the hormones they produce, and the effect those hormones have on your body. Saying "biological men have penises and testes, and on average tend to be taller, hairier and more muscular than women" is not a cissexist stereotype, it's a very real observation. Being born intersex is a very real physical thing. I still wouldn't use that to discredit transgender peoples' decisions to live as the gender they feel suits them or tell them their identity isn't real, but I think it's too much to say flat out that physical sex isn't a real thing.

And because of that, I think sex is always going to be a thing. There are things biological women (or transmen) have to deal with that biological men and transwomen don't, like childbirth, the time of month, certain cancers and illnesses. And the other way around too, testicular cancer isn't a worry if you were born female. These are real issues and not social constructs.

[DLJ]

I think we're so strongly shaped by cultural gender norms that certain stereotypes become "truths".
...

"Strongly", yes. But "how strongly?" is open to debate.

...
The "psychological differences" are mostly nurture over nature. Some men and women might naturally buck the normal trends, but most people get conditioned into them.
...

I'm swayed the other way (my opinion, I mean, not my sexuality)... genes trump memes. There are plenty of examples of middle-aged men with children who get divorced and come out as gay. And the John/Joan case mentioned in the video below, 33:00.

Stephen Pinker's Blank Slate makes a good case.





Meanwhile, in the largely Islamic Indonesia (my neighbours to the South East) the have 5 official genders:

In contrast to the two-gender system of Western society, Bugis society recognises five genders: makkunrai, oroané, bissu, calabai, and calalai.[2] Makkunrai and oroané are comparable to cisgender women and men, respectively. Bissu are androgynous shamans. Calalai and calabai approximately compare with trans men and trans women.

The role of the bissu (along with the other gender roles not normally found in Western society) exist in Bugis society because it is a cultural belief that all five genders must harmoniously coexist.

... which is nice.

[Edwardo Piet]

As a guy I can very rarely have multiple orgasms

T blockers and estrogen can fix that  

Tempting.

But nothing but air would come out and it would probably fall off

[Minimalist]

As a guy I can very rarely have multiple orgasms

But we can pee standing up.