People practice a bifurcation of reality.
The most elementary discrimination one makes about a stranger is whether they are a man or a woman, a girl or a boy. I haven't seen gender help anyone, I've only perceived it as a constraint.
Humans like to split things into infinitesimally minute pieces. For example: man, short, angry, middle class, white, fat. These labels are like mental maths games that add up to some kind of "answer". The answer is invariably a judgement.
A judgement can never be verified as absolute truth, but judgments are nonetheless believed in.
Getting back to gender: I do not believe it exists, but I can cede that other people believe in it.
Transgender is an actual modality of experience, which pretty much poos all over the gender binary. The fact that transgender is little understood or poorly publicised does not mean it is illegitimate.
Civilizations have always progressed falteringly. Anything revolutionary or contrary is initially snuffed. There are knowledges we have destroyed because they extended beyond the boundaries of a dominant worldview. The first nations people of Australia (note nations because hundreds of nations lived on this land) knew everything necessary for survival in this country, but because that knowledge was contrary to the invading Western worldview it was destroyed. I do not even know how many nations, people or languages died.
In a sort of similar way, third gender, gender neutral or ungendered are concepts that this particular society (Anglophone Western) cannot really understand and therefore see as irrelevent. Our language doesn't accommodate pronouns for such people, which indicates a belief that such people have never existed. We have always existed.
I am uprooting the gender-centric mental maths games I play in my own head because I know that I am gender neutral in a female body. So it would be unfair for me to go around assuming a person is a man because they don't have breasts, because they have a beard, because their voice is deep.
Gender and the physical body have been so bound together in our thinking.
But think about stick insects: they sure look like sticks, but they are not sticks.
Think about elementary particles: solid objects are comprised mostly of empty space.
Appearances only offer a shell of understanding, the substance is often invisible.
These days I see gender as a shell of sorts, an armor for protecting the purest and most inexpressible part of oneself. I feel a need to disarm, to allow that ineffable self to be seen. Perhaps I will surgically modify my body, or gender neutralise my clothes or change my name. Or maybe I will decide those things are unnecessary. The only thing I am sure of is myself.
How am I sure? Because it is so uncomfortable wearing this shell.
INTERESTING FACT! Transgender is often perceived as an intermediary state. "Trans" comes from Proto-Indo-European "to cross over", and many people believe that transgender people are crossing over from female to male or visa-versa. That belief excludes the whole gamut of gender-variant individuals who are beyond or between male and female.
The most elementary discrimination one makes about a stranger is whether they are a man or a woman, a girl or a boy. I haven't seen gender help anyone, I've only perceived it as a constraint.
Humans like to split things into infinitesimally minute pieces. For example: man, short, angry, middle class, white, fat. These labels are like mental maths games that add up to some kind of "answer". The answer is invariably a judgement.
A judgement can never be verified as absolute truth, but judgments are nonetheless believed in.
Getting back to gender: I do not believe it exists, but I can cede that other people believe in it.
Transgender is an actual modality of experience, which pretty much poos all over the gender binary. The fact that transgender is little understood or poorly publicised does not mean it is illegitimate.
Civilizations have always progressed falteringly. Anything revolutionary or contrary is initially snuffed. There are knowledges we have destroyed because they extended beyond the boundaries of a dominant worldview. The first nations people of Australia (note nations because hundreds of nations lived on this land) knew everything necessary for survival in this country, but because that knowledge was contrary to the invading Western worldview it was destroyed. I do not even know how many nations, people or languages died.
In a sort of similar way, third gender, gender neutral or ungendered are concepts that this particular society (Anglophone Western) cannot really understand and therefore see as irrelevent. Our language doesn't accommodate pronouns for such people, which indicates a belief that such people have never existed. We have always existed.
I am uprooting the gender-centric mental maths games I play in my own head because I know that I am gender neutral in a female body. So it would be unfair for me to go around assuming a person is a man because they don't have breasts, because they have a beard, because their voice is deep.
Gender and the physical body have been so bound together in our thinking.
But think about stick insects: they sure look like sticks, but they are not sticks.
Think about elementary particles: solid objects are comprised mostly of empty space.
Appearances only offer a shell of understanding, the substance is often invisible.
These days I see gender as a shell of sorts, an armor for protecting the purest and most inexpressible part of oneself. I feel a need to disarm, to allow that ineffable self to be seen. Perhaps I will surgically modify my body, or gender neutralise my clothes or change my name. Or maybe I will decide those things are unnecessary. The only thing I am sure of is myself.
How am I sure? Because it is so uncomfortable wearing this shell.
Clammy clam calamity
INTERESTING FACT! Transgender is often perceived as an intermediary state. "Trans" comes from Proto-Indo-European "to cross over", and many people believe that transgender people are crossing over from female to male or visa-versa. That belief excludes the whole gamut of gender-variant individuals who are beyond or between male and female.
Great post, as always.
ReplyDeleteOne way you can affirm gender neutrality is through the use of the honorific Mx (instead of Ms, Mr etc). It is unfortunately not commonly used in Australia, but if more of us adopt it, this could change.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mx_%28title%29