part one of many
Aug. 29th, 2005 09:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
adrienmundiI spent a lot of time this weekend facing fears and issues, wrestling with the guardians that have tended to keep me from even catching a glimpse of things head on. A lot to mine, probably to be documented here in time.
One of the things that won't leave my head, though, is the idea that nonconformity, specifically gender nonconformity, is only accepted by symbolic sacrifice, by a physical signification of submission to the rules and standards of the acceptable. The loss of flesh seems to be a rite of passage that can* be taken as a sign of submission to the overarcing norms. Unfortunately(?), this perspective only strengthens the "fuck you" I feel towards rules and mores, with no insight offered in how to navigate any of this.
*The operative word being "can"; I am not at all saying it is necessarily a submission, and in most cases from personal perspectives is likely a transgression. I am suggesting that from the perspective of the norms, of the standardized, it can look like a bringing of self into accordance with the rules that govern the bodies and identities of most others.
One of the things that won't leave my head, though, is the idea that nonconformity, specifically gender nonconformity, is only accepted by symbolic sacrifice, by a physical signification of submission to the rules and standards of the acceptable. The loss of flesh seems to be a rite of passage that can* be taken as a sign of submission to the overarcing norms. Unfortunately(?), this perspective only strengthens the "fuck you" I feel towards rules and mores, with no insight offered in how to navigate any of this.
*The operative word being "can"; I am not at all saying it is necessarily a submission, and in most cases from personal perspectives is likely a transgression. I am suggesting that from the perspective of the norms, of the standardized, it can look like a bringing of self into accordance with the rules that govern the bodies and identities of most others.
