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Human Sexuality is Complicated...

2012-10-12 · Hank · watch on YouTube · US politics & society · explainer learning

Hank explains that biological sex, gender identity, sexual and romantic orientation, sexual behaviour and gender roles are separate spectra rather than two boxes, arguing that understanding this reduces hate and self-hate and that people deserve respect wherever they fall.

What is said

00:00:00 — Disclaimer (not a sociologist; straight white man); goal of understanding to reduce hate and self-hate; no nice shiny boxes

  • ★ The description says Hank takes on a topic he has been afraid to cover for a while. — 00:00:00
  • ★★★ Hank acknowledges he is not a sociologist and is a straight white man spared much of the hate others face; his goal is understanding, which he thinks will reduce hate and self-hate. (hedged) — 00:00:04
  • ★★ Hank says people like to think knowing someone's sex tells them everything; those who don't fit the box confuse or anger others, and if they believe in the boxes, end up hating themselves. — 00:00:20
  • ★★★ Hank thinks the best, maybe only, solution is understanding that there are no nice shiny boxes, or else infinitely many, enough for every person who ever exists. (hedged) — 00:00:40

00:00:56 — Biological sex and intersex; gender identity as a continuum, graphed; pronouns follow gender, not sex

  • ★★ Hank says biological sex tends to be binary, though various conditions result in intersex individuals. — 00:00:59
  • ★★★ Hank says the brain decides which gender you identify with (man, woman, neither or both), and since this is an infinite continuum, no labels can cover every point. — 00:01:13
  • ★ On a graph of gender against intensity of identification, Hank places himself as identifying as a man while recognising some 'woman-y parts' of himself. — 00:01:40
  • ★★★ Using a hypothetical biological female who identifies strongly as a man, Hank argues that gender, not sex, determines the pronoun you should use. — 00:01:45

00:02:03 — Sexual orientation as a spectrum with intensity (asexuality); romantic orientation; sexual behaviour vs orientation (celibate priest)

  • ★★★ Hank says sexual orientation (who you are attracted to) is a spectrum that includes intensity, which is why asexual is a sexual orientation. — 00:02:03
  • ★★ Hank introduces romantic orientation, an idea he met on Tumblr the day before, which separates wanting intimate relationships from sex as their goal. — 00:02:17 · Tumblr
  • ★★ Hank says sexual behaviour is very different from sexual orientation: a heterosexual priest is heterosexual in orientation but celibate in behaviour. — 00:02:33

00:02:53 — Gender roles built by societies; all categories independent; people move across spectra; trust, understand and respect ourselves and others; sign-off

  • ★★ Hank says gender roles are built by societies, not individuals, and since all dichotomies are false dichotomies, masculine-feminine is a spectrum too. — 00:02:53
  • ★★★ Hank says every category is independent of the others, so even an uncommon combination of sex, gender, orientation, behaviour and roles is not weird. — 00:03:05
  • ★★ Hank says many people move across these spectrums, sometimes from year to year, sometimes hour to hour. — 00:03:22
  • ★★★ Hank urges people to trust, understand, love and respect themselves and extend that to others; the two boxes breaking into seven billion is beautiful. — 00:03:28 > «those two shiny boxes break apart into seven billion shiny boxes»

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