The "Realness" of Gender

  

Lately I have been thinking about gender, or more specifically the question of whether or not gender is “real”. I think that there are valid points to both sides of the argument, but that there is really no definitive answer. Here are my thoughts on the matter:

One argument I have heard against the idea that gender itself is completely a construct is that it kind of invalidates transgender identities. If you argue that gender is only as much as gender norms and gender expression, you are more or less arguing that trans people transition only because of those things, and not an internal feeling of gender. Trans people obviously don’t transition simply to do things or take on appearances associated with a gender other than the one assigned to them at birth. The argument that gender is just social constructs of expression also doesn’t make sense because plenty of people wear clothes and do things associated with a gender other than the one(s) they identify as. It is pretty easy to debunk the argument that gender is completely constructed (not “real”) when you approach it in this way. However, I think the discussion becomes much more complicated when you then ask, “Then what is gender?”.

Let’s go with the idea that gender itself is entirely an internal feeling that someone has about themself, not relying on gender norms or gender expression. I myself, believe(d) this to be true. However, I think that if we took away all socially constructed gender norms and traditions/practices surrounding gender in our society (which have no roots in anything scientific or logical, and therefore aren’t “real”)—anything that separates genders like clothes, gendered words, pronouns, sexism, etc.—nobody would ever feel the need to define their gender. Gender identity wouldn’t mean anything without gendered language and terms, and if there were no social differences between gender identities, how would someone determine that they are one gender and not another? How could one come to the conclusion that they are this and not that when this and that are the same? I don’t think one could. So then, gender, which we just concluded was “real”, depends entirely on made up social norms, which aren’t “real”. But how can the existence something real depend on something that isn’t real? This is the point where the logic gets foggier, and I think makes the question of the realness of gender unanswerable. 

Though I have concluded from this pattern of thought that gender itself can’t exist without the socially constructed aspects of gender, I really can’t say much more than that. So, my original question goes unanswered. I’m very curious what others think on the matter, so if you have opinions about the realness of gender, let me know!