How many genders are there in 2018? - Quora

I’m going to lay out a bit about genders and sex, give some insight into why there’s more than one answer to that question.

First of all, why do we even have more than one gender? Why do people have sex?

Roughly 1.2 billion years ago, simple eukaryotic cells evolved with an ability that allowed one cell to recombine itself with another cell to create a new cell that contained DNA from both cells. Before this, it did happen that a cell would swallow another cell, but it would technically devour the other cell, erasing its DNA. The new, sexual, eukaryotic cells could instead absorb some DNA from each other and create a new, stronger whole.

Sexual reproduction is used among 99.9% of all species alive.

It has a number of advantages, it generally makes us more resistant to parasites and diseases, and it can repair damage to our DNA.

As sexual reproduction evolved, so did sexual selection. When DNA is recombined between two animals, it is always preferable to scrutinize your prospective partner. Are they healthy? Are they thriving? Especially being the partner that has the greatest investment in the resulting offspring, typically being the female, it is necessary to find a strong mate.

As animals with two genders evolved, so did the behavior associated with the separate genders. It wasn’t that gendered behavior evolved the exact same in all animals. Not at all in fact. In some animals, the behavioral difference between male and female is negligible. In others, it is extremely pronounced. In some, the female is bigger and more dominant than the male.

In primates and in our hominid ancestors, reproductive selection took two forms. Male on male competition, and female mate choice. We have some of that behavior still ingrained in us. There are those who argue that culture alone created our two main gender stereotypes. That, despite all our primate and hominid relatives display gender-specific behavior and traits, we are somehow above that.

Testosterone is the reason that males becomes males. The Y chromosome triggers special cells in the gonads that cause them to produce testosterone. The default fetus is female, but with testosterone, that fetus starts to form male characteristics. A penis forms, bones grow denser, and during the fourth to sixth month of the pregnancy, the masculinization of the brain occurs.

This has noticeable, physical impact on the brain, sufficient that you can tell the gender of a person based on a MRI. Once the child is born and starts growing up, there is a whole host of differences in the behavior and mental abilities of male and females. For example, males are, on average, better with their spatial intelligence, being better at rotating objects mentally. Females, on average, are better at remembering long lists of words. Even very early, our differences can be seen. Very young boys prefer toys that can be manipulated, toys with wheels or hinges. Very young girls prefer toys that offer sensory experiences (like soft, plushy toys), or toys with human-like facial features that they can focus on. This trend actually continues, women, on average, are better at reading facial expressions than men.

But in addition to these biological differences, we can add two other factors to the mix.

  1. Culture
  2. Individual variation

1: Our culture, and the cultural stereotypes we have for gender, are not entirely separate from biological genders. Looking at the stereotypes we have, it is clear that they were created as embellishments on top of the gender roles naturally occurring in humans. They weren’t entirely separate from biological genders, but a lot of “artistic creativity” was given in their interpretation. Obviously males have no preference for blue, just like females have no preference for red. In fact, go back a couple of hundred years, and red was considered the masculine color. Men don’t have a natural preference for pants, and women for dresses. So it is obvious that we added a lot on top of what could be considered “natural”. Not all of it made sense in terms of our natural preferences either.

2: In addition to what we added culturally, there is also the case to be made for individual variation. Remember how i mentioned men having better spatial sense, and women having better memory for words? Well, both of those are based on Averages. And that’s the problem with averages, that there is so much individual variation between each person that it can totally erase that average difference, and sometimes make a male better than the average female, at the all of the things women are usually better at, and vice-versa.

So we have two ways in which we are deviating from our natural tendencies, especially if you think of them as averages.

Additionally, we have a very small portion of the population that suffer from one of the several conditions that can affect your perception of gender. Remember how I mentioned that the male brain becomes masculinized in the 4th to 6th month of a pregnancy? Well, it doesn’t for all males. In some males, that masculinization doesn’t take place. They still form as males in all regards, except their brain. Take an MRI, and it will resemble a female brain.

This is also why males suffer slightly more from gender distortion than females. Female is the base gender, and the fetus becomes male through the addition of testosterone. If any part of the masculinization process is disrupted, it can create a superficially male person with some feminine traits. It is harder to disrupt that process in a female fetus.

Additionally, there are also various chromosomal disorders that can create variations other than the two main XX (female) and XY (male) options.

Conclusion

- In reproductive terms, there are two genders, one that creates ovum (egg cells) and another that creates sperm cells. An extremely few people have been found capable of both (creating both ovum and sperm), and naturally some are incapable of creating either. But forming a fetus, naturally, requires one person creating ovum and another creating sperm.

- In terms of behavioral tendencies and mental abilities that are natural, we will already start to encounter a bit more grey areas. Yes there are behavioral tendencies and mental abilities that differ between men and women. But they aren’t profound enough that normal, human variation can’t negate them. Additionally, some people are born with brains more similar to that of the opposite sex.

- In terms of cultural tendencies and gender stereotypes, it is even more muddled. Our culture is constantly expanding and evolving. In some ways, I can understand the counter-culture to our old gender norms. Remember how I talked about “average” men and “average” women? Well, we used to have a culture that only allowed for those averages. It doesn’t necessarily mean that those “averages” weren’t based on natural tendencies, they were. The problem was that our culture didn’t allow for deviation from that average. First religion was the main culprit in enforcing that norm, and after that came “naturalists” who claimed those differences were natural.

The problem with creating a culture that is focused on forcing everyone to adhere to an “average” is that it restrains and limits everyone who deviate from that average. And that is exactly what our culture of old did. We noticed early on that women have a preference for taking care of others more than men. We noticed men are more aggressive. But then we first made the erroneous assumption that all women and men follow that pattern. And then we made the second error in enforcing that erroneous assumption through cultural stereotypes and religion, enforcing it on everyone.

The problem now is that in some places, there are those who want to dissolve those old stereotypes by erasing all gender norms. That isn’t the solution either though. Yes those gender stereotypes were restrictive and oppressive. But they weren’t pure inventions, purely cultural fabrications. That’s why there are tons of people, the majority in fact, who feel comfortable with a gender stereotype.

We actually enjoy having some guidelines to operate under. Social rules aren’t always a bad thing. Often they give us a framework that allows us to function as a society, to help us find our place without having to figure out everything from scratch. Less confusion. More time to focus on leading a good life.

Admit to yourself that there are some gender types, that they are there for a reason, and that the majority of people live very good lives under them.

But also admit to yourself that there are people who deviate from those norms, sometimes through no fault of their own, and allow them to deviate, and respect them.

https://www.quora.com/How-many-genders-are-there-in-2018