What makes a man a man or a woman a woman?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

It reads as though you think ...

If we don't speak again I hope you have a nice life.

[Mr.Obvious]

Okay, so what exactly, does ethnicity, nationality and culture have to do with gender. A pretty specific word defining the variations between male and female and there are a lot. But I can't buy into the argument of e,n and c having anything to do with sexuality.

Idunno aitm. Honestly, i would say culture influences both gender and sexuality, which i don't see as the same thing entirely.
What was it for example, fuedal japan had that 'third gender'?
Ancient greece. The romans. Prime examples of how sexuality were deemed different and lead to different (sexual) behaviours and normalization of certain sexual ... acts.
Hey, i'm not saying thzt if i'd been born in a different continent 400 years ago my sexual preferences and my perception of my gender and my personality would be completely different, but i would wager money on them not being 100% the same as they are now.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

As the twig is bent, so grows the tree.

[Sargon The Grape]

Okay, so what exactly, does ethnicity, nationality and culture have to do with gender. A pretty specific word defining the variations between male and female and there are a lot. But I can't buy into the argument of e,n and c having anything to do with sexuality.

Gender is a social construct that is related to (but not synonymous with) sex, and social constructs are a product of their society by definition; and any given society is a product of the ethnicity and culture of its people. You ask what gender has to do with any of these things, but the human concept of gender is inseparable from them.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Or not.

[Sargon The Grape]

Or not.

Sorry, it's hard to respond to forum posts when you're driving from Washington to California and back to attend a funeral. Oddly enough, I do consider road safety to be slightly more important than responding to your non-arguments.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I don't argue with dangerous drivers, like those who text while driving.

:raspberry:

[Shiranu]

The chromosomes in your genes and the dangling bits between your legs. 

If you want to use gender, then the words become meaningless... so I try to avoid that meaningless creation of the 1950s.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

People just need things to fight about.

[the_antithesis]

They should spay and neuter people.

[KevinLogan]

their genitals

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Yeah, but "what makes a man a man?"

[Sargon The Grape]

Yeah, but "what makes a man a man?"

By fitting their society's definition of a man.

There genuinely is not a better answer to this question, that's just how social constructs work. A thing is a thing because a society says it's a thing. It's the same reason you wear black to a funeral or drag to a Pride parade.

[FreethinkingSceptic]

Gender is culturally dependent. If you dress, act, and can be easily identified as what your culture considers a woman, then you're a woman. Same goes for being a man. Same goes for whatever other gender identity you want to throw in there.

Rubbish. Women playing contact sports doesn't make them men. Men doing ballet doesn't make them women. Gay people aren't the opposite sex just because they engage in sexual behavior associated with the opposite sex.

If we consider science at all, then we can assume that there is a link between one's genetic sex and the sex one mentally identifies with, given that men and women have different brain structures.

https://stanmed.stanford.edu/how-mens-and-womens-brains-are-different/

As for why transgender people exist, I would assume that, in some cases, there may be a conflict between one's brain structure and one's genitals. This may be why they are more likely to engage in behaviors which are statistically associated with the opposite sex. But again, it would be absurd to claim that if a girl takes up an interest in rugby, this makes her into a boy, or if a boy takes up an interest in ballet, this makes him a girl.

[FreethinkingSceptic]

By fitting their society's definition of a man.

There genuinely is not a better answer to this question, that's just how social constructs work. A thing is a thing because a society says it's a thing. It's the same reason you wear black to a funeral or drag to a Pride parade.

The earth is flat because the Flat Earth Society says so.