I'm in the process of changing my name and gender marker on most legal documents. I have been living and passing as the gender "opposite" from that which I was assigned at birth for 1/3 of a year. As I transcend the labels which have so defined me for the last 23 years, I cannot help but realize how damn silly this labeling is to begin with.
Let me start from the beginning, conceptually: at conception, we are labelled by our weight and ancestry. Oh, and our genitalia... unless it doesn't resemble a typical vagina or penis, in which case the doctor will just forcibly transform the ambiguous genitalia to appear more like a typical vagina or penis.
Does that sound just the tiniest bit unreasonable to anyone else? How about (usually) unnecessary? How about oppressive? How about unethical?
What is it abouta a vagina, penis, ambiguous genitalia, or any other body part that should define our identities as people?
Why does there exist a system that restricts the types of genitalia people are allowed to have? Some reasons are medically necessary. Some are downright ridiculous. From Wikipedia:
1. to improve the potential for fertility
2. to provide an outlet for menstruation
3. to prevent or reduce urinary tract infections or obstruction
4. to reduce risk of cancer in abnormal gonads.
5. to close open wounds or exposed internal organs
6. to improve urinary or fecal continence.
7. to alleviate parental distress over the atypical genital appearance.
8. to make the appearance more normal for the person's sex of rearing
9. to reduce effects of abnormal genitalia on psychosexual development and gender identity
10. to improve the potential for adult sexual relationships
#2, #3, #5 and #6 I can see as being sometimes necessary...
#1, #8 and #10 are just ignorant and
#4 I need more clarification on.
How can enforcing a label onto an individual
be important or necessary?
Sex/gender is a huge bucket of steaming crap.
Unless anyone's got a better answer, my only guess is that our recent ancestors have designed a system of ideals to oppress one another.
And it's not just typical-penis people who oppress typical-vagina people.
I like that terminology. Typical-[binary genitalia] people. Legal "male" or "female" labels are only determined by genitalia. And this legal delineation leads to a "gendered" childhood upbringing, which typically leads to being "properly" "gendered" by the rest of society, and we all live happily ever after.
Except you hate your gender.
Yes, I mean you.
Maybe you've never had a single thought to cross gender lines.
I bet you've been jealous of the "opposite" gender at least once.
That doesn't mean you're like me, and want to completely cross the line, so to speak.
But you could. Yeah. You totally could. And that would be okay.
It's that in-between stage that really pisses society off, however.
It's unsafe to not clearly fit into the proscribed "male" or "female" categories. "This is 2013!" Trust me, we're in the identity stone age.
Whether you actually care to transcend genders or not, you should know that society will get pissy if you try to. Doesn't that make you angry? I guess if you have no desire to transcend you probably wouldn't care. You might even be one of those people who gets pissed when others do it. Or you're just totally fine with the way you are, and wouldn't change a thing.
Do these eugenic practices occur in other ways in our society?
How can the "gender roles" which result from assigning a legal "sex"/"gender" fulfill the desires of every individual?
To me, sex/gender seems like just another excuse to segregate people. It may even be the absolutely most insidious one.
"Male" and "female" categories dominate the identities of our species. There are extremely vague and unusual "roles" and characteristics associated with those categories which are reserved for only one or the other. These roles/characteristics do evolve, but remain independent of one another.
We may fear the "opposite" sex/gender.
We may love the "opposite" sex/gender.
We may hate the "opposite" sex/gender.
We may be "attracted" to the "opposite" sex/gender.
We separate ourselves from another group of people in order to _________. Segregation. But why?! The system itself is oppressive, and certain separations may result in an oppressive outcome, but the need for separation itself doesn't necessarily strike me as oppressive.
I don't know why we do it. That's why I left a blank.
Maybe it's to seemingly "make things easier." Or is that just the system's deception? We're just so used to it that we assume it's easier?
Is it to facilitate reproduction? No, that would disregard human ingenuity. Many babies are born through a surrogate parent; such a practice implies that reproduction does not necessitate any attraction between people of "opposite genders" or attraction to people with different genitalia.
Is it to make people easier to identify? Well that would depend. If I'm showing my ID to security at a bar, it's the picture they're probably comparing me with - the gender marker may helps them if my presentation aligns with the legal delineation. But what if it doesn't? Not shit. Unless you've come across an enormous bigot, such an "inconsistency" is not going to prevent you from access.
While presenting and passing as "female," I've handed my male-gendered ID with a facial-haired and balding picture to numerous security guards, and have - at oddest - received a double take, or a curious grin. It has never caused me problems.
An inconsistent actual-appearance with your ID photo may lead some security folks to believe you are not who you say you are. In this case, I think it's important to consider what sounds less oppressive:
One of those statements doesn't reflect our society.
I can't tell you how society could ever become like my first description, but, to me, it sounds a lot better than the latter one.
Gender is a valid way to describe differences between people's interests and presentations, in my opinion. Unfortunately, presentation is not the only association we as a society make as the distinction between genders or "sexes."
Other than "gender roles," genitalia is defined by gender or "sex," according to the law and doctors and science textbooks, therefore society generally accepts this to be true, and decides what others' genitalia may be, based on their presentation.
If you can't already tell, I strongly believe in the importance of eliminating the existing, proscribed association of genitalia to binary identities.
Now that I've written this I'm much less pissed off, only because I've at least proposed a solution to some of my angst. If only I could convince the government.
No comments:
Post a Comment