I'm not an expert on gender theory, but from my understanding the general consensus is that "gender", or the roles certain sexes play and the identities we claim based on anatomy, is socially constructed, or man-made. Gender differs from sex in that it is not objectively tied to biology but rather is the sum of what society tells you about your biology and how you may and may not act with it. Gender is the demarcation that society makes between people who are biologically male and female.
From this understanding, the question of how many genders there are is wholly dependent on the society you live in. In some pre-Colombian Native American societies for example, there were 3 genders, and I'm sure there's other examples across the world.
So society decides.
Our society seems to have decided a long time ago that there are only two acceptable genders. Because the concept is socially constructed, in our world, for us, there seems to be only two.
Of course, one can have valid critiques of the 2-gender binary we have, but the fact is that by the nature of how gender is constructed in the world we live, there again, is only two.
I'm putting this out there only to get everyone's opinion: am I off here?
Tldr: Gender is socially constructed. Therefore how many genders there are is determined by what society says. Society says there are two, so there are two
From this understanding, the question of how many genders there are is wholly dependent on the society you live in. In some pre-Colombian Native American societies for example, there were 3 genders, and I'm sure there's other examples across the world.
So society decides.
Our society seems to have decided a long time ago that there are only two acceptable genders. Because the concept is socially constructed, in our world, for us, there seems to be only two.
Of course, one can have valid critiques of the 2-gender binary we have, but the fact is that by the nature of how gender is constructed in the world we live, there again, is only two.
I'm putting this out there only to get everyone's opinion: am I off here?
Tldr: Gender is socially constructed. Therefore how many genders there are is determined by what society says. Society says there are two, so there are two