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GuidoSpeedoBurrito t1_j7xkloj wrote

Reply to comment by ThisSaysNothing in Judith Butler: their philosophy of gender explained by Necessary_Tadpole692

I mean this is all true, but changes nothing about the fact of an independent reality. We can lie to ourselves, we can play word games, communicate however we want to. We aren't creating anything other than a new story by doing so, and certainly nothing on par with what is true about reality outside of our minds.

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ThisSaysNothing t1_j7yteyi wrote

I think you are simultaneously overestimating the scope of what Butler and other social constructivists claim and underestimating the scope of the meaning of what they actually claim.

I think you would profit the most when further engaging with these Ideas when focusing on this question you asked:

"Is this only to point out the fact that boundaries drawn and characteristics chosen in these distinctions are human-created (aka socially constructed?) Because this seems fairly self-evident, but I don't know what work it does."

Also think about the loop I tried to describe. By interacting with the world we also shape it and our influence is especially important for things close to us e.g. our own bodies, relationships, institutions, tools...

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