Originally posted by mezzir
lol whats bull about that?
how many categories exist if you are neither male nor female ?
mezzir
quote:
Originally posted by Omega_M
how many categories exist if you are neither male nor female ?
both, in between, more one than the other
alos, gender != sex
astroboy
quote:
Originally posted by Ian
Seriously, I'm totally faithless. I don't believe in god, a god, allah, buddah, elephants or anything like that. Jesus didn't exist, god doesn't exist etc.
You don't believe in Jesus or Buddha? Do you believe in Plato or Aristotle or Socrates?
Ian
quote:
Originally posted by astroboy
You don't believe in Jesus or Buddha? Do you believe in Plato or Aristotle or Socrates?
I dunno. i've never thought of it in that way.
Omega_M
A belief is a belief. There is nothing wrong in believing something for yourself. Whatever floats your boat. If you think there is a physical heaven and hell, so be it. How can you disprove it? And why must you disprove? If the person wants to generalize his beliefs and force them on others, then there is a problem. Then, his beliefs must be subjected to logical /scientific /experimental scrutiny. A way must be found to do that. Nobody should ask you to believe in a philosophy just because they assume it to be true. Unfortunately, that is what is happening today. Islam tends to be a bit too harsh on the nonbelievers. That is unfortunate and irrational in my opinion. There is no proof except for their belief in Koran.
There needs to be a study that rises above the teachings of specific religions and tries to find a congruence between the apparently incompatible philosophies. Unfortunately again, not many people are capable of mastering different religious philosophies. It is a very complex task IMO. Not even the believers will want to read their own religious texts. They will let the priest do the job and accept his interpretations. Further, the blindly believing masses will never accept the results of such studies, since their beliefs are way too firm to be dislodged by arguments which they are incapable of following.
astroboy
quote:
Originally posted by Omega_M
how many categories exist if you are neither male nor female ?
On a philosophical level some say any categorisation of gender or sexuality is a social construct, and hence any number of categories is inappropriate. So they might tick other just not to feel they are being "gendered".
On a more practical level, some people are born with ambiguous genitalia, so their gender may be more complex than a binary choice. Others still were born one gender and have been surgically altered to possess the external features of another. Broadly speaking most of these alternatives fit into the categories of either "transgender" or "intersex".
astroboy
quote:
Originally posted by Omega_M
A belief is a belief. There is nothing wrong in believing something for yourself. Whatever floats your boat. If you think there is a physical heaven and hell, so be it. How can you disprove it? And why must you disprove? If the person wants to generalize his beliefs and force them on others, then there is a problem. Then, his beliefs must be subjected to logical /scientific /experimental scrutiny. A way must be found to do that. Nobody should ask you to believe in a philosophy just because they assume it to be true. Unfortunately, that is what is happening today.
Islam tends to be a bit too harsh on the nonbelievers. That is unfortunate and irrational in my opinion. There is no proof except for their belief in Koran.
There needs to be a study that rises above the teachings of specific religions and tries to find a congruence between the apparently incompatible philosophies. Unfortunately again, not many people are capable of mastering different religious philosophies. It is a very complex task IMO. Not even the believers will want to read their own religious texts. They will let the priest do the job and accept his interpretations. Further, the blindly believing masses will never accept the results of such studies, since their beliefs are way too firm to be dislodged by arguments which they are incapable of following.
Your reasoning is intelligent but it tends to assume that belief systems are constant, homogeneous and consistent. As they are cultural practices, not dry texts that exist in a vacuum, the assumption does not hold. One man's Islam is not another man's Islam, and both will have changed over time. Does having read the Qur'an, the Sunnah and ahadith mean I understand Islam more than an illiterate Iranian Muslim? I would argue not. To discern what a religion is at any one time to an extent where one could test it is practically impossible. One can speak of "tendencies" as you have, but with the caveat that one is no longer speaking of Islam as a whole. Thus most attempts to "test" religion on the basis of science are flawed at conception.
Omega_M
how is it relevant to your views on Islam ? A majority of the population falls in the category of male or female. Only a fraction will fall into the category of others. I don't see a need to further identify the specifics, considering that it is totally irrelevant to the subject at hand.
astroboy
quote:
Originally posted by Omega_M
how is it relevant to your views on Islam ? A majority of the population falls in the category of male or female. Only a fraction will fall into the category of others. I don't see a need to further identify the specifics, considering that it is totally irrelevant to the subject at hand.
You can't know it's irrelevant until you've done the survey. That's the point of such questions. When you have a huge sample size you may find that people who specify themselves a of an alternative gender, for example, are more sympathetic towards Islam.
Secondly many people feel they are marginalised or pigeon-holed or discriminated against by a society that sees gender as a binary choice. Adding the extra option involves almost no effort, doesn't compromise the integrity of the survey, but may help avoid offending people. All in all I don't see a problem with it.
