I agree with you pyro on the concept of gender not totally being the underlining concept of misunderstandings between people. However in connection to relationships I also concur with your logic. But from my understanding and observations, gender does play a significant role to a certain extent on certain subjects.
Of course just like you said each individual is special because of how different they are. But because of how society is designed gender does matter to a certain level. For at a early age children are reinforced to understand what gender they are and its relevance to the world around them. In this sense gender is very important to ones individuality.
Now the thing is certain subjects can mean certain things depending on how that individual was brought up to think which is then connected back to gender. But then the problem comes if we really ever had to ability to think for ourselves without the boundaries imposed by multiple things such as religion, culture, family, certain bonds, and of course gender.
Do you not understand that what you said is that, it isn't about gender but environmental influence? It no longer is about gender, but the affects of things treating you a certain way, which may or may not be because of gender. Did you not see how I already addressed this, and stated how this line is disappearing in modern world? You then now deviate from your original point of interactions to pursue this line... just to state you disagree with me.
Actually, what Lunarknight had said in his last post has plenty to do with gender, whereas what you said about
people is completely right. On a larger scale, people are people, a step down, people are male and female. On an even smaller scale, people are individuals. It's true that each an every person is unique to an extent, but the extreme majority of people fit into categories, including gender.
Gender, more often than not, is a huge part of an individual's identity. While modern circumstances make things less and less gender-specific, most people are able to say "I am female" and "I am male" as their gender-identity, and whichever gender-identity a person identifies with DOES play a role in society. While people, regardless of gender, can choose to be however they want on a smaller scale... other people in society will act differently according to whichever gender they identify with. For instance, women's clothing and products are often geared towards a female audience, whose builds/physiques and tastes typically match what is put on the market, and the same for men. The way people treat men and women, especially in social environments like say... an office, differ between whichever gender they identify with. They see women walking down the hall, whether they be wearing skirts or pants, the typical person will judge "That person is female". People ultimately judge first on outward appearance. Your sex or gender is typically a huge part of your outward appearance, along with your health, your clothing, and etc.
Growing up, many of us are taught "how to be a girl" or "how to be a boy", and our upbringings are specific to whichever sex we're born with. Along the lines, we either go with it, or think "Hey, that's not me." and are transgender. A person of male sex, can be of a female gender. That person will typically be treated as a transgendered female by society, and a natal female will typically be treated as a natal female by society. It's just how things are, and people will judge upon and treat others based on their gender, even if just a little bit.
This is because, gender is part of who a person is. Even if they're androgynous, people will think about how to treat said person with that factor in mind. If the person seems like a douche, people will treat him/her like a douche. We judge people based on what they project, who they seem to be, when they show up in our lives, and how they behave. In which sense, to many, gender doesn't mean shit and people will be seen as people by some for the most part, but in even a subtle way, their gender does affect how we treat them. Even using terms like "him" or "her" is a treatment specific to gender.
At the end of the day, people are just people. What sex they were born into should not force a person to fit into whatever mold. Whoever they choose to be, including which gender they identify with, is a part of who they are and affects societies view on them. We're intellectual beings that hold less value to "what gender is" than any other animal would, so perhaps there will be a time when people evolve beyond gender, but for now, gender is who we are.
But again, on a small scale, people are not equal to one another and are complete individuals, but on a much larger scale, everyone of the same biological build and equal, period.
It's too subjective and profound to say "girls/guys are like this", because it is both true and untrue. People should just get to know people as people. Most people that would find the opposite sex "hard to understand" or "different" to a great extent, typically has little social interaction with them to understand that sexes on our own view don't matter quite as much when we interact with people as individuals.
We cannot really make a real commitment without knowing when this meetings will be
