Elund comments on 2014 Less Wrong Census/Survey - Less Wrong

88 Post author: Yvain 26 October 2014 06:05PM

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Comment author: Elund 07 November 2014 05:46:44AM *  -1 points [-]

Part of the reason is that if you restrict to the population of the United States they are (more-or-less) a separate genetic cluster

Well, I wasn't restricting to the population of the United States. Anyway, race is still a socially constructed identity. This is apparent with mixed-race people who often identify with one race more than another based on how they were raised, how they look, how other people identify them, and whether they act more like a stereotypical member of one of their races than another. The race they identify most with might not be the one that makes up the largest proportion in their ancestry.

Only because anyone who dares to point out the obvious truth that it isn't gets called a "sexist transphobe" and unfit for polite society.

My understanding is that gender is specifically used to refer to the socially constructed identities. Biological sex differences get lumped under sex rather than gender, which is why people can believe in the social construct of gender while also believing that biology contributes in some degree to stereotypical gender roles. I'm not an expert on gender though, so I should probably leave it to someone else to debate you on this point.

Comment author: Azathoth123 07 November 2014 06:23:59AM 0 points [-]

Part of the reason is that if you restrict to the population of the United States they are (more-or-less) a separate genetic cluster

Well, I wasn't restricting to the population of the United States.

Is the term "Hispanic" even used outside the US and places imitating the US?

My understanding is that gender is specifically used to refer to the socially constructed identities.

That's the claim made by "gender theorists". In practice it's used to refer to any sex differences they can claim to be socially constructed without seeming completely ridiculous. Nearly all of said differences are almost certainly largely biological.

Comment author: [deleted] 08 November 2014 07:51:30PM *  1 point [-]

Is the term "Hispanic" even used outside the US and places imitating the US?

It's used on the Survey (which is how this discussion ever sprang up in the first place) even though non-Americans also take it. (What will Spaniards pick? I'm gonna go check what they did last year... EDIT: three picked “White (non-Hispanic)”, one picked “White (Hispanic)” and one picked “Other”, so they mostly went by the de facto definition rather than the official one.)

(IIRC I once classified myself as “Latin” on some kind of survey because I assumed it referred to anyone with Romance-speaking ancestry.)

Comment author: Azathoth123 09 November 2014 05:09:44AM 2 points [-]

It's used on the Survey

Because Yvain is imitating US usage.

Comment author: [deleted] 09 November 2014 04:07:22PM 2 points [-]

I know. But people outside the US also take the survey, so your “if you restrict to the population of the United States” upthread doesn't apply.