nah, I'm not going to let that confuse me because it took me years to make some sort of association in my mind to remember which symbol meant what. All I remember is that since I'm a woman and I'm attracted to men, I point to men, therefore the arrow means men. I can't remember anything else beyond that. other than using the process of elimination to figure out the other ones.

[–] Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone 29 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I feel juvenile now for remembering the male one by thinking that it looks like an abstract erect penis, lol

♂️

[–] BirdyBoogleBop@lemmy.dbzer0.com 13 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

Is that not what it is? I think the female symbol looks like abstract reproductive organs too.

[–] kommerzbert@feddit.de 15 points 7 months ago

Both symbols are actually the symbols Roman gods.

The shield and spear of Mars for the symbol of masculinity.

The mirror of Venus for the symbol of feminity.

[–] Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone 12 points 7 months ago (1 children)

It comes from Roman mythology, it was a symbol of Mars and is supposed to represent a spear and shield. I had to look up what the female symbol represents, allegedly it’s the hand mirror of Venus. I would bet it’s not a coincidence that they can be viewed as abstract genitals, though.

[–] JudahBenHur@lemm.ee 7 points 7 months ago

I would wager the farm on that bet

[–] FMC8456@lemm.ee 11 points 7 months ago

When I was growing up I never understood nor was I ever told what those symbols met, the first time I saw them was in fireboy and watergirl and my first thought when seeing them was exactly as described in the meme, which confused me because both fireboy and watergirl have bodies and neither of them have horns.

[–] Hideakikarate@sh.itjust.works 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I think I grew up thinking the arrow was just that: an arrow or other pointed weapon used in hunting, while the female symbol has wider hips.

[–] FMC8456@lemm.ee 6 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Well it was meant to be the symbol for mars so not far off. I don't get the female one though, no matter how long I look at it it just looks like a legless stick figure.

[–] AlligatorBlizzard@sh.itjust.works 5 points 7 months ago

The female one is the symbol for Venus, actually. Beyond that looks to be a Wikipedia rabbit hole I don't think I'm going to go down tonight.

[–] Soku@lemmy.world 5 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I got no sources to back it up but I've taken that as a fact for very long time: the symbol for Mars (male/masculine) is a shield and a spear. The symbol for Venus (female/feminine) is a handheld mirror, that cross under the circle is the handle.

[–] FMC8456@lemm.ee 3 points 7 months ago

I can kind of see how it would be a mirror, if the circle was bigger.

[–] hex@programming.dev 2 points 7 months ago

For me, I'm a male, and I'm going towards female. So female is like attracting the male which means it's a +. Idk.

[–] clemdemort@lemmy.world 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

What is the one on the bottom left?

[–] FMC8456@lemm.ee 2 points 7 months ago

I think Bigender.