In Science class today we looked at genetics, and I was trying to stress that genetics are not destiny. Genes don't make you smart all by themselves, but they can make it more likely that you will be smarter. One of my students tried to make a joke about Schrödinger's Cat, but couldn't quite make it work. Then we got onto the subject of transgender. I made the point that gender (as opposed to sex) was a social concept.
My student replied, "Well, you see, I have dangly bits between my legs, and I don't have dangly bits in front of my chest."
Said I, "Maybe so. But if you think about it, you don't actually know what bits I have between my legs."
His eyes got so wide you could have driven a truck through them.
"I present as male, you treat me as male, I am male. That's social gender."
"Oh."
Opportunities like this one just cannot be passed by: "It's kind of the opposite of Schrödinger's Cat. Until you open up the trousers and look, it's whatever you say it is."
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