Is gender a binary or a spectrum?

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Um, no. Autism is a psychological disorder. Neither sex nor gender are psychological disorders. You're comparing apples to oranges.

Autism and many psychological conditions are sometimes considered to be typologies, with no firm basis, in reality. For instance, there is no chemical imbalance or physical deformity, per se. It's more like an identity or identification -- just a label.

If you mean to judge gender, that way, it's a choice. You have grown habituated and could learn new behaviors, if you want to call that a therapy, because you were not strictly born that way, or it's not written in stone.

No, I'm not.

"Autism" currently has no biological markers, yet people here are comfortable claiming to be "autistic."

Of course, with no biological markers for "autism," anyone can claim to be "autistic." I find it infinitely amusing that we apparently can't claim to be "non-binary" because GENDER MUST BE BASED IN BIOLOGY, but we can identify as "autistic." It's exactly the same thing.

What are the biological markers for autism and for homosexuality? I mean, if you were to name specific ones.

I see lots of different case histories, and people are collating them, under a certain header.

No. Autism is a psychological disorder. It's definition isn't rooted in the biological process of sexual reproduction. Humans, like all primates, are bisexual, meaning they have two sexes. The vast majority of the animal kingdom is bisexual.

Prior to the 1970s, the gender was a purely linguistic term. It had nothing to do biological sex or any kind of personal identity.

Gender has since turned into some kind of personal identity based in the biological sexes. Those are male and female. The reason for the two sexes is reproduction, which is a biological process.

Autism is psychological. There are standard for a diagnosis. Sure, anyone can CLAIM they have autism, but that doesn't make it true.

I'm sorry, but reality is not a social construct and neither is gender. There are objective facts.

Is it a fair summary of your position that gender must be based on sex, sex is binary, and therefore gender must be binary?

Yes. Gender is the expression of biological sex or the characteristics commonly associated with the biological sexes.

Gender must be rooted in the concept of biological sex or it could be anything. You can't have the gender of a basketball. That would be lunatic.

Autism markers https://gene.sfari.org/autdb/CNVHome.do

Multi-faceted research points to autism being caused by genetic mutation, including numerous studies into heritability.

I'm sceptical of the existence of a "homosexual gene". Epigenetics likely plays its part, along with (obviously) postpartum environmental factors.



Autism is a neurological disorder which presents as a varied selection of psychological symptoms, but the root cause appears to be physical, not behavioural. Labelling it a "psychological disorder" simply is not accurate.

And you say there are objective facts. My profile says I am male. If we met, on what objective facts would you rely to decide whether you agree? Assume I give you access to relevant medical records and that I am willing to undergo tests. What would you want to know?

There are no objective measurements for autism or a personal taste.

But, we know what are:
chromosomes
primary and secondary, sexual traits
universal norms, regarding gendered mannerisms.

Gender identity may be the opposite of your biological sex, but opposite is the keyword.

Psychology - the scientific study of the human mind and its functions, especially those affecting behavior in a given context.

I know there is research that indicates autism has biological roots, but I'm bringing it up because I've heard the same arguments against non-binary people here being used against autistic people.

Personally, I never went through genetics testing to determine my autism, and I'm guessing most other people haven't either. It's based on subjective interpretations of how an individual thinks, feels, and behave (kind of like gender).

BTW, I've come to respect your viewpoint regarding gender quite a bit, so please don't take anything I say as an attack.

If gender and sex were exactly the same thing, then we wouldn't have two separate concepts regarding such. Sorry, but there are aspects of "gender" that have nothing to do with biology, and you still have yet to declare what gender a person with Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome is supposed to have.

As for autism, the diagnosis process is purely based on how an individual thinks, feels, and behaves, as interpreted by a doctor. Which is not much different than "gender."

BTW, thank you for being polite and respectful in your exchanges on the subject thus far. Too many people take discussions of gender personally and fall back on snide remarks.

a distinction between gender and sex must be made. sex is rigid and determined by either genitalia or chromosomes, but even chromosomes can deviate from a standard "binary" and result in intersex individuals and whatnot. gender is abstract. it is intangible. male, female, genderqueer, agender, whatever--i don't think it actually matters. it just doesn't matter. i'm not saying that the coining of new gender terms is 'invalid,' or the result of a mental illness. it's completely 'valid,' but i think it just doesn't matter and these terms are ultimately meaningless and counterproductive.
labelling genders seems to merely reinforce what people who claim to be against the gender binary hate. people say, "screw gender!" then go on to label themselves with a myriad of pointless gender terms, only serving to create more labels to attempt to 'fit' into. there will be no gender label anyone will 100% align with unless a continuous flow of terms are being created every moment, so why not just exist? why not just stop caring about gender terms? you don't have to have a label to convey everything about your personality and the way you act. just act as you wish. that's enough. you do not need a new label to describe how you feel in relation to gender.
gender is a spectrum and it is abstract, but i don't see a point in labelling every single possible point on this spectrum. there's no need to have a term for everything one feels in relation to gender.
i think the best approach to gender with a nihilistic lens--"gender nihilism. " exist. express yourself without fixating on terminology.
personally, i feel 'genderless,' but i have no issue being referred to as female because that is my biological sex and i don't assume any commonly perceived connotations of the term 'female.' being called female doesn't mean i'm being assumed to be 'girly,' dress-loving and makeup-wearing. it doesn't mean anything other than the fact that i have two X-chromosomes in the context of sex.

Everyone posting on this thread and reading it started as a sexless embryo.

Chromosomes then dictate if you are a male or female human.

It can get weird after that, maybe best to say it is a binary system than can become a spectrum due to things that happen on the way, or mutation to put it bluntly.

Evolution is mutation, for good or bad.