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More ramblings
Jul. 14th, 2003 07:03 pmI'm still stuck on the gender/sex thing, specifically the seeming disparity between gender not being polar/continuum based, but sex appearing to be so. I thin the reason that bothers me so much is that for most people, one dovetails into the other without question, so for me to have one set of rules for gender and another for sex seems unworkable when it comes to dealing with others. Sure, in an ideal world, it would be enough for me and me alone to feel good about my thoughts and actions, but I'm pretty sure this isn't that ideal world (if it is, please let me know). 'Anticipation of opposition' is a rhetorical skill I learned a bit too well, but it's a large part of what my stress/coping mechanisms are based upon. Damn, I feel like I'm missing the point of what I'm trying to get at. Once again, then:
Maybe adapting empricisim, as some suggest, may be a useful tool.
1)People have bodies.
Generally speaking, these bodies probably have genitals.
These genitals tend to be either innies, outies, or something in between.
The previous statement suggests a continuum to me.
2)Gender as a concept is generally assumed to be 'natural' by most, in my experience.
'Natural' seems to rely heavily on, well, nature, in this case in the form of genitals.
Genitals seem to come in a continuum.
Assuming people can see that point, they can usually stretch to say that gender may be a continuum.
3)I don't like the idea of a continuum of gender; I think it only serves to reinforce the polar positions at the expense of positions other than polar.
I feel distinctly other than polar myself.
I worry that it is too much to try to dissolve: that gender is 'natural'; that gender and sex are linked.
I am stuck, again.
Well, that worked a little better, but only a little. I think I tended to lose it again on point 3). I suppose I could answer the begged question of why it matters so much what others think. I've probably done it before, and I'll likely do it again, so I may as well do it now.
It matters because I like people. I like interacting with them, both with friends and strangers (sometimes, though more often than you'd likely think). It matters because, despite the hard, candy-coated shell of cynicism and irony, I'm really all soft and gooey inside, and I can't really envision living the life of a social outcast. It matters because I can't see as desirable the potential future of only seeing certain people, and only in certain circumstances, for the rest of my life.
Or maybe it matters because I'm shallow; I'm not really sure, sometimes.
Maybe adapting empricisim, as some suggest, may be a useful tool.
1)People have bodies.
Generally speaking, these bodies probably have genitals.
These genitals tend to be either innies, outies, or something in between.
The previous statement suggests a continuum to me.
2)Gender as a concept is generally assumed to be 'natural' by most, in my experience.
'Natural' seems to rely heavily on, well, nature, in this case in the form of genitals.
Genitals seem to come in a continuum.
Assuming people can see that point, they can usually stretch to say that gender may be a continuum.
3)I don't like the idea of a continuum of gender; I think it only serves to reinforce the polar positions at the expense of positions other than polar.
I feel distinctly other than polar myself.
I worry that it is too much to try to dissolve: that gender is 'natural'; that gender and sex are linked.
I am stuck, again.
Well, that worked a little better, but only a little. I think I tended to lose it again on point 3). I suppose I could answer the begged question of why it matters so much what others think. I've probably done it before, and I'll likely do it again, so I may as well do it now.
It matters because I like people. I like interacting with them, both with friends and strangers (sometimes, though more often than you'd likely think). It matters because, despite the hard, candy-coated shell of cynicism and irony, I'm really all soft and gooey inside, and I can't really envision living the life of a social outcast. It matters because I can't see as desirable the potential future of only seeing certain people, and only in certain circumstances, for the rest of my life.
Or maybe it matters because I'm shallow; I'm not really sure, sometimes.
