A student just emailed me with a very important question: what role does biology play in the determination of sex. She was asking with regards to supporting the trans community. A biologist might have a different answer, but as a sociologist, I said this: (1)

There is a huge debate in gender studies about what role biology actually plays. Tbh, we really don& #39;t know the extent of biological influence in the determination of both sex & gender (which are hard to pull apart from each other. Judith Butler would say both are constructed.(2)

I personally think biology does matter to people in their lived experiences (whether you are trans or cis), which is why trans people often undergo gender reassignment surgeries & take hormones. I fully support them in that choice.(3)

However, some do not & still identify with the gender not assigned to them at birth. I support them too. I think we need to realise biology matters, but we should also not pin down exactly how. The way it matters differs for different people, & that’s okay.(4)

For precision& #39;s sake, let me rephrase and say that Judith Butler would argue that sex and gender are both performative. I don& #39;t think she would agree with the term & #39;constructed& #39;. https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🙃" title="Auf den Kopf gestelltes Gesicht" aria-label="Emoji: Auf den Kopf gestelltes Gesicht">