How Many Genders Are There?

[Free Bird]

I fail to understand the "ze hir" business.

[dead0man]

63

[Crumpets]

How many colors are there?

[Likely Voter]

2 genders

Infinite gender identities

[DavidB.]

2.

[Chunk Yogurt for President!]

II

But according to Tumblr there is a such thing as "galaxiegender" so that's at least 3.  Of course, Tumblr is mostly for people with first world problems trying to see who can be the most unique.

[SUSAN CRUSHBONE]

i don't know if that's a useful question. there are many different genders, and often the borders between them are blurry at best.

[RI]

2. People have confused the concept of gender with personality.

[RFayette]

2. People have confused the concept of gender with personality.

This.  I view it partially as Romans 1 coming to the West, from a more religious paradigm.  

[SNJ1985]

Two.

''So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.'' - Genesis 1:27

[World politics is up Schmitt creek]

Two and change. Gender is not the same thing as biological sex but it is also not something one can just unilaterally decree for oneself (and I should know). There are cultures that have more than two clearly delineated genders but very few if any of us are living in one of them.

[Goldwater]

63

Huh? Why is sexual orientation considered part of gender?

[SATW]

2 (not tumblr)

[Green Line]

Infinite genders.  Genders for all!

[Clark Kent]

Two, male and female

[NeverAgain]

Two. If people want to define themselves as something else, expect my support, pardon my confusion.

[dead0man]

63

Huh? Why is sexual orientation considered part of gender?

Don't ask me, I just Googled the phrase "how many genders are there" and went with the one with the best, most clear information/number. As a bonus, 63 is a laughably large a number.

[Goldwater]

I see. Anyway, I agree with realisticidealist on this. Your personality can be masculine, feminine, or any number of things in between, but IMO that different from gender.

[Chunk Yogurt for President!]

Two. If people want to define themselves as something else, expect my support, pardon my confusion.

So does that include galaxiegender?

[Green Line]

Two. If people want to define themselves as something else, expect my support, pardon my confusion.

So does that include galaxiegender?

Yes, if that's what someone comes up with.  That is the beauty of endless gender.

[Figueira]

I honestly don't know.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

How many numbers are there between 1 and 2? How many sounds between A and B flat? It's a meaningless question. Gender identity doses not equal sex does not equal gender expression.

Also, not to sound like a bitch, but ... the west isn't the only culture, people.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

63

You are a complete sexist against the 64th gender.

[publicunofficial]

How many colors are there?

This. It's a spectrum

[Alcon]

I think a lot of the gender identity acceptance stuff that goes on at colleges can be a little try-hard, but I think some people in this thread are confounding biological sex (two, basically) with gender, which I think of as the visible stuff that presents with a strong correlation with biological sex.  The idea that there could be multiple descriptive words for sets of gender traits seems totally plausible to me.  It's also possible that someone would have mixed masculine/feminine traits.  I don't think we need a descriptive word for each one of these, especially considering how few people don't have physical traits that don't match their biological sex, and how we rarely describe sets of behavioral traits with specific words, but I don't think the idea is illegitimate.

Although I do understand some of the reaction to this as being a little artificial.  I went to a liberal arts undergrad, and sometimes, I got the sense that people liked being able to develop whatever identity they wanted, and then have it affirmed.  I wouldn't say they were making things up, but I do think the focus on it oftentimes was because they liked being able to feel accepted for whatever.