The only correct way to think about Sex & Gender

Nobody loves applying what I learned with my gender studies degree more than I do.

When it comes to the set of all human personality traits, each trait can generally be categorized as either masculine or feminine.

Regardless of how you think these traits should be labeled, it is indisputable that some of these traits are mutually exclusive by definition.

For example, one cannot be both just and merciful in the same context. Justice is when one receives the judgement that they deserve according to the law (be it a legal or moral law), whereas mercy is when one gets an exemption from what they deserve according to the law.

By the same token, one cannot be both aggressive and ameliorating in the same instance, nor can one be both insensitive and hypersensitive in the same instance.

To be clear, I am not saying that the same person can’t exhibit both aggression and amelioration or insensitivity and hypersensitivity in their day-to-day behavior (or even over the span of a single interaction with another person). I am saying that these traits are mutually exclusive in any given instance.

Once you understand this, you can very easily put together a coherent conceptual framework of the positive and negative aspects of gender like the one below.

This is a very simple framework, and not all the traits on this are paired-opposites like Justice and Mercy are, but you get the idea.

Masculine and feminine =/= male and female

You’ll notice that I didn’t use the typical male and female gender signs in the chart above, instead opting for more symbolic representations of masculinity and femininity.

This is because maleness and masculinity are linked, but fundamentally different, just as femaleness and femininity are linked, but fundamentally different.

Every male contains a feminine aspect within himself (called “the anima”) and every female contains a masculine aspect within herself (called “the animus”).

While sex is binary (or so bimodal that it is functionally indistinguishable from a binary), gender is fluid, and both males and females can and must develop both the feminine and masculine aspects of their psyche if they wish to live a psychologically healthy life.

*The chart above is from my video called “Jordan Peterson and Slavoj Zizek's REBUKE of Gender Ideology” which you can get to here.

The only somewhat confounding issue is that, due to biological differences, males on average tend to exhibit more masculine traits (which is why all prisons across the world are filled with men), and females on average tend to exhibit more feminine traits (which is why most preschool teachers are women).

So, if we recognize that masculinity and femininity are correlated with, but fundamentally distinct from maleness and femaleness, we can move forward in the world with a clear and balanced view of what is otherwise controversial and unnecessarily divisive topic.

Also for the record, nobody loves women more than I do.