: You mentioned that you think the differences within genders are larger than the differences between genders. Women, men, and non-binary people span the entire gamut of personalities, so what

@Sue2132873

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You mentioned that you think the differences within genders are larger than the differences between genders. Women, men, and non-binary people span the entire gamut of personalities, so what actually separates the genders?

As long as the characters exist in a society with genders (not raised by wolves or agender aliens or something) they will have encountered stereotypes about genders and had to react to them.

Take, for example, a woman in the modern-day US who watched Legally Blonde growing up. She might have decided to become a lawyer and watched it again during every finals week in law school. She might have only watched it once but think about the sexual harrassment scene every time she has a 1 on 1 meeting with her boss. While every woman might have a different reaction to the movie, the experience of watching it will be different for a woman than a man.

Similarly, a man in the modern-day US who went to public high school may have been asked to try out for the football team. He might think the jocks give boys a bad name. He might suck at sports and resent that the PE teacher divided people up by gender to determine skill levels and then told him to join the girls group. (This is a real thing I saw happen.)

Of course, a different era or setting might have entirely different stereotypes, but if the setting is at all familiar to the reader they will expect the characters to be in some way shaped by its stereotypes, either accepting or rejecting them. There are stereotypes about everything from what people wear, to what hobbies they have, to how they make a living.

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