Glass Menageries

I saw the compound word gender-critical yesterday and just couldn’t make out, from context, what it meant. My first guess was that this refers to someone whose sense of their own gender is in critical condition—about to explode, fly apart in a zillion pieces at any moment.

For example :

•  The deeply insecure micro dicked frat boys who get freshmen girls drunk and then take turns raping them (Beer Kavenaugh anyone?). Why do this? To prove to their fellow frails that see, I’m not an incel and I can SO be all alpha and manly!

Or

•  The similarly mega insecure sorority girls—always wearing shades of pink, pastel twin sets and heels while they trash talk and bully others who dare to make different choices. They measure their worth by the wealth and prestige of the men they date.
  

I think I’ve thoroughly dated myself with those two examples. Are frats and sororities still home to the undeservedly privileged, least enlightened, most unimaginative examples of humanity? No matter—I’m sure you catch my drift. 

I’m talking about the sorts of people whose gender identities are defined by 1950s teevee shows—The Donna Reed Show Ozzie and Harriet, Maverick. These cosplay Homo sapiens’ lives are so tightly scripted that their gender identities are in the ER with staff calling code blue. They go on to head Home Owners Associations or run for political office where they continue to fail at Humanity 101.

It makes sense (to me) that being gender-critical would be about crippling levels of insecurity—the constant need to prove that, yes, you really are (by uptight society's metrics) a man or a woman. The purchase of big shiny pickups (with giant-ass tires, of course) and yearly vacays in Cabo ensue. These folks are so desperately unhappy with themselves that they’re always just moments from shattering like so many glass menageries.

My understanding of the phrase is close-ish but that’s not what being gender-critical really means.

Cake totally agrees!

What is it?

Gender-critical beliefs refer to “the view that someone’s sex - whether they are male or female - is biological and immutable” and “cannot be conflated” with their gender identity (whether they identify as a man or a woman)… (source)

Put simply, someone who is gender-critical has a negative opinion about how you choose to live your life. They want to make sure you don’t color outside their defined lines. You must exist in an approved (by them) manner. They think what you wear, where you pee and who you bang is their business.

Ya know what’d make this planet a whole lot more pleasant? If everyone minded their own damn business and quit trying to micromanage each other’s lives.