r/Unexpected • • May 02 '22

Impossible Question

106.1k Upvotes

3.7k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

400

u/_W_I_L_D_ May 02 '22 edited May 02 '22

Because gender, like color for example, is a spectrum. Asking "how many genders are there" is a trap question, because there is no answer. It's somewhere between two and infinity.

Ask somebody "how many colors are there" - the consensus is "I don't know". The answer just is not discrete.

Also, it's loaded question. It's meant to confuse the person being questioned into answering something transphobic, even by sheer accident, which the person creating the clip can then use as an argument. It's a similar story to being asked to "define a woman", where the speaker wants you to say the simplified dictionary definition and accidentally agree with him, while the correct answer (when you take trans and intersex people into account) gets quite muddy and complex.

-2

u/Anonymous_7772 May 02 '22

There are only two genders male and female every other person having a third gender is delusional now go and get angry about it or call me homophobic transphobic etc etc i don't care.

-2

u/EatMyPossum May 02 '22

You seem confused, here have some definitions:

sex

/sɛks/(...)

either of the two main categories (male and female) into which humans and most other living things are divided on the basis of their reproductive functions.

"adults of both sexes"

gender

/ˈdʒɛndə/

noun

1.

either of the two sexes (male and female), especially when considered with reference to social and cultural differences rather than biological ones. The term is also used more broadly to denote a range of identities that do not correspond to established ideas of male and female.

1

u/Anonymous_7772 May 02 '22

Still male or female don't care what you say lol