What it means to be gender-critical, in plain words

Across the personal stories we reviewed, people who call themselves “gender-critical” all agree on one starting point: gender is not an inner identity; it is a set of social rules and stereotypes that society pins on each sex.

Here are the key ideas they keep repeating:

1. Gender is a social construct, not a feeling
   “Gender is made up. Every culture has its own idea of what gender is… It’s not biological and actually harmful.” – BuggieFrankie source [citation:a2e73dc0-5ffa-4423-b831-1d5f375639bc]
   They see “masculine” and “feminine” as personality traits or interests, not as proof of an inner gender that can be switched.

2. Sex is fixed; gender roles are the problem
   “Gender-critical people believe that women are women because we’re adult human females and that has no bearing on our personalities.” – VengefulMufasa source [citation:35cb67f8-a3e4-4a3d-a0ba-7385a435deee]
   They reject the idea that you can “identify out of” the sex class you were born into.

3. Transition is not framed as a solution
   None of the accounts promote hormones, surgery, or pronoun changes. Instead, they describe medical transition as “harmful pills, injections and surgeries sold to vulnerable people.” – SaraHunt78 source [citation:95fdd282-c280-4234-94d2-ec63147ede18]

4. The goal is liberation through non-conformity, not new labels
   Rather than adding extra gender boxes (“non-binary,” “gender-fluid”), they want to tear the whole system down: “Let boys wear dresses… not because they’re now adhering to the female gender role but because anyone can do that.” – BuggieFrankie source [citation:a2e73dc0-5ffa-4423-b831-1d5f375639bc]

In short, to be gender-critical is to say: your sex is your body; everything else—tastes, clothes, hobbies—is just personality. Free the person, not the stereotype.