Ampharos
tag walls, punch fascists
I've been thinking about transgenderism and the concept of gender roles a lot lately, given that my roommate for the past year (who happens to also be my cousin) came out as trans a few months ago (just to me + our friends, idk if her side of the family knows but mine certainly doesn't). Because of that this post is probably gonna be an incoherent jumble of thoughts but bear with me.
TBH it's led me to reevaluate how I feel about my own gender a little bit - I'm perfectly comfortable identifying as male as a real life person but in the vast majority of fictionalized settings I visualize myself as female (there's a couple of other things too but I don't feel like getting into that). In the end there's a good chance that's just me being a giant weeb though, and I really don't feel the need/desire to explore it any further, partially for reasons that may become clearer later in this post.
I can see both sides of the drag argument and I'm really not informed enough on the topic to really speak about it, but I think I'd have to agree with the notion that it's an acceptable way for transwomen to express their identity without being completely ostracized by society. It would be like publicly presenting as a stereotypical "flamboyant" gay man or "butch" lesbian (terrible terms but w/e) - sure, it's demeaning, and probably doesn't help society's view of your particular minority, but if it allows you to express your identity even a little bit in an age where publicly outing yourself as a sexual/gender minority invites large amounts of discrimination, then I say go for it.
My thinking is that a large contributor to modern gender roles would have to be religion; after all, the Bible starts with two individuals who are explicitly male and female, marriage is defined as being between those two genders, etc. etc.
I bring this up because, living in Texas, a lot of the opposition I hear to LGBTQ individuals in general, and trans people most specifically, is that it's somehow against what's natural, or that it defies what God intended. They don't see gender roles as a social construct, because they're a Biblical construct, and thus are unshakable truths. Someone coming out as transgender is in defiance of God's plan for them because gender roles are so strictly tied to biological sex in the Bible - men are the providers, women are the nurturers. In the minds of these people, gender and sex are one and the same, and to try to modify that is unthinkable.
I can't speak personally on the condition of those who fall outside of the gender binary because around here it just doesn't happen, or if it does those individuals choose to pass as male/female in everyday life. My older relatives who talk about sociopolitical issues a lot (not usually in a context I would agree with but whatever) never even bring it up, because the Bible enforces the gender binary just as strongly as it enforces traditional gender roles. Honestly someone who identified as androgynous would probably just get accused of being gay, which doesn't even make sense in this context zzz
Basically what I'm saying is that, at least in the United States, there's a giant wall of religion to break through before we'll start seeing more acceptance for transgender and nonbinary individuals, or even those whose biological sex matches the gender they identify with but who exhibit characteristics traditionally associated with the opposite gender. And honestly, I'm not sure there's much that can be done about that other than time.
Finally, I think my initial reaction is actually to disagree with pluff re: assigning sex at birth. I'm not super learned on the matter, and I understand that there's a lot of different metrics by which sex is defined (chromosomes, hormones, secondary sex characteristics) which are sometimes in conflict with one another, but I think in the majority of cases biological sex can be fairly easily identified at birth. Of course, we shouldn't start enforcing gender roles right from birth based solely on biological sex, so that's something we as a society definitely need to work on.
That being said, assigning an arbitrary sex (and thus by extension an arbitrary gender) to someone who is intersex/expresses some conflicting combination of sex characteristics is not a practice I agree with given how it would be very likely to lead to gender identity issues later in life. Again, however, we run into the deeply-rooted gender binary that isn't going anywhere anytime soon, so what're you gonna do ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
wow i rambled a lot more than i meant to am i good at cong yet
TBH it's led me to reevaluate how I feel about my own gender a little bit - I'm perfectly comfortable identifying as male as a real life person but in the vast majority of fictionalized settings I visualize myself as female (there's a couple of other things too but I don't feel like getting into that). In the end there's a good chance that's just me being a giant weeb though, and I really don't feel the need/desire to explore it any further, partially for reasons that may become clearer later in this post.
I can see both sides of the drag argument and I'm really not informed enough on the topic to really speak about it, but I think I'd have to agree with the notion that it's an acceptable way for transwomen to express their identity without being completely ostracized by society. It would be like publicly presenting as a stereotypical "flamboyant" gay man or "butch" lesbian (terrible terms but w/e) - sure, it's demeaning, and probably doesn't help society's view of your particular minority, but if it allows you to express your identity even a little bit in an age where publicly outing yourself as a sexual/gender minority invites large amounts of discrimination, then I say go for it.
because using the evolution argument to justify social constructs worked so well for us before >_>Boys are boys and girls are girls most girls are into things considered feminine though years of evolution and boys masculine through evolution and masculinity was determined by traits that attracted women to mates like being durable enough to hunt, work in mines to provide for family etc. while men wanted nice fertile women with nice breasts and hips for better baby making and who could take care of the child while said man was out hunting.
Obviously men and women are interested in some things masculine and some things feminine but there is a general ruleset that affects the average male and female so you can't ignore it and shouldn't be discouraged but if you're genuinely deviant from the subject please go ahead nobody really will care unless you're being a cunt.
My thinking is that a large contributor to modern gender roles would have to be religion; after all, the Bible starts with two individuals who are explicitly male and female, marriage is defined as being between those two genders, etc. etc.
I bring this up because, living in Texas, a lot of the opposition I hear to LGBTQ individuals in general, and trans people most specifically, is that it's somehow against what's natural, or that it defies what God intended. They don't see gender roles as a social construct, because they're a Biblical construct, and thus are unshakable truths. Someone coming out as transgender is in defiance of God's plan for them because gender roles are so strictly tied to biological sex in the Bible - men are the providers, women are the nurturers. In the minds of these people, gender and sex are one and the same, and to try to modify that is unthinkable.
I can't speak personally on the condition of those who fall outside of the gender binary because around here it just doesn't happen, or if it does those individuals choose to pass as male/female in everyday life. My older relatives who talk about sociopolitical issues a lot (not usually in a context I would agree with but whatever) never even bring it up, because the Bible enforces the gender binary just as strongly as it enforces traditional gender roles. Honestly someone who identified as androgynous would probably just get accused of being gay, which doesn't even make sense in this context zzz
Basically what I'm saying is that, at least in the United States, there's a giant wall of religion to break through before we'll start seeing more acceptance for transgender and nonbinary individuals, or even those whose biological sex matches the gender they identify with but who exhibit characteristics traditionally associated with the opposite gender. And honestly, I'm not sure there's much that can be done about that other than time.
Absolutely not true. The first thing every doctor says upon delivering a baby is "Congratulations, its a [boy/girl]!" The child is then brought back to a nursery that's either entirely baby blue or entirely pastel pink and made to wear clothes that match the gender roles associated with its biological sex. A baby boy is going to be gifted firetrucks and dinosaurs, whereas a baby girl will receive almost exclusively dolls of some sort. The entire infant/toddler product market is so hilariously gendered it's absurd.At that stage in life, the concepts of "gender" and "gender roles" don't really exist yet
Finally, I think my initial reaction is actually to disagree with pluff re: assigning sex at birth. I'm not super learned on the matter, and I understand that there's a lot of different metrics by which sex is defined (chromosomes, hormones, secondary sex characteristics) which are sometimes in conflict with one another, but I think in the majority of cases biological sex can be fairly easily identified at birth. Of course, we shouldn't start enforcing gender roles right from birth based solely on biological sex, so that's something we as a society definitely need to work on.
That being said, assigning an arbitrary sex (and thus by extension an arbitrary gender) to someone who is intersex/expresses some conflicting combination of sex characteristics is not a practice I agree with given how it would be very likely to lead to gender identity issues later in life. Again, however, we run into the deeply-rooted gender binary that isn't going anywhere anytime soon, so what're you gonna do ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
wow i rambled a lot more than i meant to am i good at cong yet