i always think about that study where they had adults hold a baby, and when they were told the baby was a girl the adults said she was cute and small, and when they were told the baby was a boy they said he was big and strong. they rated the baby’s ability to do things and tendency towards certain toys differently. they even held the baby differently. (x) or when they rated the baby’s physical ability to do various tasks such as climbing up a slope differently, (x) & when they measured how much parents told their girl children vs. their boy children to be careful and stop being so rowdy (x), & when they measured how often girls and boys were told to be quiet. (x)
this was, obviously, all unconscious behavior in the adults. they’re not all like, raving sexists who outspokenly believe that women can’t do stuff or that girls really should just be quieter, be more still than boys. like its not even counting the direct, actual messages, its just literally how every single person in your entire life treats you, and if asked they would probably deny that its even because you’re a girl. how the fuck am i supposed to believe this doesn’t affect a child’s development when its literally constant throughout the entire process
This shit starts as soon as early as when someone’s still a fucking fetus. I’ve heard the saying “discrimination starts as soon as you leave the womb” but it actually starts earlier than that.
GoddAMN I am so sick of genders
“Delusions of Gender” by Cordelia Fine goes over all this in lots of detail if you want to be REALLY infuriated (and educated!)
I absolutely second that book.
And yeah. Every time someone points to something like average strength distributions or the distributions of Olympic athlete strength my response is:
A) The differences between human average physique from different nations, based on diet and childhood healthcare access, are greater than the differences between genders.
B) We have literally never seen a world in which women aren’t being systemically underfed, underexcercised, and physically demotivated since childhood. If you think that doesn’t throw the curve of what sexual dimorphism in humans would look like on an evening playing field, you’re simply not being serious.
