dreams

There was a giant monster from space, much bigger but similar in shape to Godzilla, who was systematically circling the earth destroying everything in its path. I was on a government-esque science team (?) trying to find something with which to fight it. We ended up completing one set of solar powered armor as it closed in on the city, and were still trying to figure out how it worked. I thought maybe it let one grow to gigantic size, but didn't know how. As we flew away on a plane, giant monster tracked on the plane and took to the sky to catch us.



Then I was on a college campus that might have featured from other dreams. I was part of a team that drove a delivery truck into building and down halls (?). We pulled out to one courtyard only to see queued dump trucks full of something, some construction project. For some reason, we couldn't get past them, but I raised the driver's seat like six feet, out of the cab, and could see to drive, but was worried about driving through the halls.



Still on a campus, maybe the same one, as a student (sort of). There was a visiting trio of performers that played regularly, at one point three girls who sang and danced, at another point three guys who played balalaika and Romani/Russian folk music. Two of the guys switched instruments on a bet, and were struggling to make them work before the show, but only one really pulled it off. I was in the audience, having walked from my dorm with a small, orange and white, quite illegal kitten and a backpack of books. Once the band started playing, then broke up into three separate groups where people just talked to them. The orange striped kitten stretched out beside me and started attacking the skirt (and maybe thigh) of a red haired girl sitting next to me, so I grabbed him by the back of the neck and took him out, much like I imagine an embarrassed mother does with misbehaving children. I took him to a bench outside of an office in which someone was working, and set him down while I made sense of my books and repacked my bag. He was apologetic, stayed close, but when I picked him up to hide under my jacket to take him back to my dorm, he said, "Aw,mama..." and I had to explain why it was necessary.

repost

This is something I posted somewhere else, a response to someone who (perhaps foolishly) asked for an academic type perspective on the distinction between sex and gender. I think I might have managed to avoid most of my theory junkie pitfalls, while maybe still conveying (some) meaning. The original venue was a loosely magic/spirituality related list, if context matters:

*****


If I recall correctly, at least in the US, the sex/gender distinction first seemed to gain traction as a result of the second wave of US feminism (it might have even been Robin Morgan who gets general credit, but I can't lay my hand on a source at the moment EDITED TO ADD: actually, I think it was Gayle Rubin). Specifically, it arose as a part of what came to be called Cultural Feminism, which to oversimplify and reduce basically says that at least some (the degree varies from cultural feminist to cultural feminist) of the observed differences between women and men are a result of culture, rather than biology. If you've heard the slogan "Biology is not destiny", well, this is where it came from.

This also ties into the nature/nurture debate. Dr. Spock, a huge proponent of the nurture camp in regards to childhood development, was also seizing a chunk of attention at about this time, so there were lots of cultural forces moving in similar ways. The fact that there is a debate between the importance of nature and nurture in regards to children and/or gender performance/identity gives an indication of how much changed, and how quickly.

As Shoshana says below, sex is generally referencing some aspect of biology/the body, but even that is not without some difficulty. As Anne Fausto-Stirling (bioethicist and biohistorian) points out, humans are only roughly sexually dimorphic; there are several handfuls of things that can vary in human conception, gestation and/or development that should challenge the notion that all humans are clearly and obviously male or female. And, depending on where one's lines are drawn, even in depthy physical exams don't always reveal the whole story (in some cases, extreme androgen insensitivity in chromosomal males results in bodies that appear unambiguously female to external investigation).

So where one draws the lines in defining male and female on a biological basis is still not fully settled. If it's genital morphology, that doesn't account for the variations of intersexed people, not to mention the example above.. If one looks at chromosomes, it does not acccount for those whose natural chromosomal state varies from the anticipated XX or XY (ex. XXY, XYY, X, XXX). And that's even before factoring in environmental issues and pollutants like BPA, phytoestrogens and the estrogenic contamination of more and more watersheds.

Gender isn't any easier, and in a lot of ways is markedly more complex. The common oversimplification in a lot of circles is that gender is one's sense of self as a man or woman. The problem with that is both a lack of precision and exclusivity of focus. What is meant by 'man' or 'woman'? In study after study (I can't cite off the top of my head, but could probably dig some out if anyone's interested) there have been striking variations in definitions based on, among other things, class, region, culture, religion, age, media participation/saturation and the time period of the studies. But all that said, there's no guarantee that any two people from the same class, religion, culture, region, etc. will have the same definitions, yet people generally act as though they share meaning without ever discussing it (this is what I meant by my 'empty sets' comments in a previous email).

Most people are aware of the concept of transsexuality, which is itself a subset of transgenderism. The most common idea is that of a woman or man who feels they are better suited to (and sometimes pursue physical changes to achieve) life as the "opposite" sex. (As you can see, the language gets very tricky very quickly) But, it's also a medical condition according to the DSM since the late 70s (if memory servers, the DSM-III), with criteria set forth by psychiatrists who servers as gatekeepers for hormonal and surgical therapies for self identified transsexuals: again, rife with difficulty.

Transgenderism is a term that arose in its current usage in the 80s as an umbrella meant to encompass all who deviate from standard expected gender roles as pertaining to their assigned sex. There are ongoing conversations about whether this does or should include tomboys, feminine boys, etc. Because it is an umbrella term, it is often utilized with a series of modifiers, most if not all of which rely on self definition.

Social constructivists suggest that gender is socially constructed,that even to acknowledge any space between sex and gender at all implies some room for social construction of gender (fwiw, I agree with this). Some constructivists are absolutist, and make no place for biology in terms of one's sense of gendered self, whereas others posit that agrarian division of labor and childbirth began what in the West we generally recognize as 'men' and 'women' as social concepts or markers of function, traits and abilities, and still others work between biology and societies. The point being, I think, that there is a social component to gender that goes beyond sex and reproduction; I think most social constructivists would agree with that.

And... I've wandered far afield. From a more magical perspective, it seems like a lot of attention is paid to the berdache, the shaman, and other so-called "third gender" people. Unfortunately, a lot of this early writing, which was picked up by some in the magical community, was a case of cultural misinterpretation and projection. For an interesting perspective on non-Western gender variance and self definition from within the examined cultures, Evan Towle and Lynn Morgan have a great piece called "Romancing the Third Gender Native: Rethinking the use of the 'Third Gender' Concept". Though it's primary focus is not on magic, per se, it does touch upon it.

Anyway, that's enough out of me.

Adrien

remember

I need to remember that there's a difference between standing up for myself and being mean or an asshole. It's all too easy for me to forget this fundamental aspect of self care, since so many have used "mean", "angry", and similar words to keep me in place when I tried to assert my self, rights or boundaries. It's not like I don't have excellent role models close at hand. Automatically giving way or accommodating the offender should not be my unquestioned default.

(no subject)

I ran across this eulogy for Jim Carroll today at work and felt that sudden surge of sadness that made me worry I might sob at work. It's just weird; I've never had the death of a stranger have such an impact on me (and have had the deaths of known people affect me much less). It makes me wonder if something's not quite right in me, if maybe I've committed some sin of overprojection, overidentification, or turned some scary stalkery fan corner or something.