If gender is a social construct, what about age?

[Anonymous]

Serious question. If the current socially acceptable line of thinking is that when it comes to gender biology is not what's important, but rather how one feels that should be recognized, why can't the same thinking apply to age? After all society does ascribe a different status to someone who is 50 as opposed to someone who is 35. If at 46, I believe that my health/appearance/ attitude aligns more with what society views as typical for 30, and it causes me emotional distress to be labeled as 46, why can't I change my birthdate and age on forms and insist that others recognize me as 30? Or alternatively not answer what my biological age is and claim that I am age fluid?

[Anonymous]

I don’t think gender is a social construct. I also think age is not a construct either.

[Anonymous]

Isn't that the argument pedophiles use? No. Age is not a social construct. Gross dude.

[Anonymous]

Sex is not a social construction. Gender is.

Similarly, age is not a social construction, but youth/middle-age/old age etc. are. That's why we have sayings like "you're only as old as you feel" or "youth is wasted on the young" or "50 is the new 40" or "if you're 55 or better..."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think gender is a social construct. I also think age is not a construct either.

+1. Try harder OP, dumb question.

[Anonymous]

Can I self identify as older and collect SS checks?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sex is not a social construction. Gender is.

Similarly, age is not a social construction, but youth/middle-age/old age etc. are. That's why we have sayings like "you're only as old as you feel" or "youth is wasted on the young" or "50 is the new 40" or "if you're 55 or better..."

Like gender, age expectations are very culture-based. I’m not seeing this anxiety about millennial adult children among my non-white friends and colleagues.

[Anonymous]

Accept life. Don’t try to change everything. Age and gender included.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think gender is a social construct. I also think age is not a construct either.

+1. Try harder OP, dumb question.

This question is obviously geared to those who DO believe gender is a social construct.

[Anonymous]

You can't argue time. Days. Weeks. Months. Years. There's no dispute.

If a person says "I don't feel like I'm a man, or woman, or binary at all," how and why would you argue with them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sex is not a social construction. Gender is.

Similarly, age is not a social construction, but youth/middle-age/old age etc. are. That's why we have sayings like "you're only as old as you feel" or "youth is wasted on the young" or "50 is the new 40" or "if you're 55 or better..."

Well put.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can I self identify as older and collect SS checks?

Not only should you be able to do that, but you should be able to identify as an entire GROUP of people, men and women and other, alike, and collect a check for each and every one of them!


I mean, it's no MORE absurd than a 38 year old man declaring that "she" is a woman now, and demanding everyone use "her" preferred pronoun and allow her access to women's bathrooms and locker rooms.

I mean, we've already crossed that Rubicon.... So how dare anyone tell you that you CANNOT identify as a group of 9 senior citizens?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can't argue time. Days. Weeks. Months. Years. There's no dispute.

If a person says "I don't feel like I'm a man, or woman, or binary at all," how and why would you argue with them?

I would argue that if you have xx chromosomes you are a woman, doesn't matter if you feel like a man, woman or something in between. Just like you would tell someone who was born in 1972 that they are 46, even if they claim to be 30.

[Anonymous]

Don’t people try to do this all the time, though not in a legal capacity? Face lifts, hair implants, hair dye, fillers. . .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sex is not a social construction. Gender is.

Similarly, age is not a social construction, but youth/middle-age/old age etc. are. That's why we have sayings like "you're only as old as you feel" or "youth is wasted on the young" or "50 is the new 40" or "if you're 55 or better..."

Well put.

It's not well put, because this distinction you make between gender and sex is silly. The word gender has been used for decades and it's always been a polite euphemism for sex. Back in the 80's no one used the word gender to decipher how masculine/feminine one considered themselves to be.