Men being men part 2 .... the dark side (& comment on androgyny in the mainstream)

[Asche]

For example, I have 3 boys. I was determined to raise nurturing, feeling human beings. They did not go to public school, but to a Montessori school where everything is gender neutral, from the age of 18 months....

Well, guess what? They would go outside and make their own guns out of sticks.

Not to say that it disproves your point, but may I point out that they were not isolated from the wider society. If they had been all that effectively isolated, then they wouldn't have known about guns in the first place.

Also, if gender were a social construct that CDs and TSs don't "fall for" then how come there are not more CDs and TSs?

To say something is a social construct is not to say that it isn't real, or that we could get along without social constructs. The English language is clearly a social construct, and is clearly very real. It's also clear that if the USA had instead somehow ended up speaking, say, Swahili, we would have probably gotten along more or less as well as we are with English. But I seriously doubt we could have gotten along with no language at all.

I wouldn't say that CDs and TSs "don't 'fall for'" this social construct. I would say that the gender construct in its current form in Western (or USA?) society is something that most people can wear in greater or lesser comfort, but just doesn't fit some people at all. It's like "one size fits most" tights. Some people (like me) can't get them up past their knees.

I know the idea that sometime in the future men will universally want to break out of the restrictive masculine chains that have been "forced" on them and will therefore embrace and accept a more feminine style of presentation may be appealing to CDers who have felt society's bias all their lives, but I honestly do not believe this is a realistic outlook of things to come.

I agree with you.

Most adults have pretty much gotten used to their "chains" and figured out how to get around while wearing them. If they aren't too heavy or ill-fitting, why would they want to exchange them for a different set of chains that may be just as bad and require another few decades to get used to?