Posts tagged gender

i-am-the-lighthouse:

fuckyeahlgbt:

queerwatch:

[via]

Sex: characteristics (anatomical, genetic & hormonal) socially identified as male, female or intersex.
Gender: behaviors/norms socially assigned to males & females; masculinity & femininity.
Gender identity: internal sense of gender as man or woman, which may not conform to birth sex.
Gender expression: external signs of “femininity” or “masculinity” via clothing, comportment, etc…
Gender non-conformity: to reject assignment of distinct norms and behaviors to men & women
Genderqueer: freedom and openness of gender expression and sexual orientation, regardless of birth sex or societal norms/expectations. Often working actively to question and redefine established concepts and definitions of gender and sexual orientation.
Transgender: person who transcends behaviors/norms socially assigned to men & women; person who rejects gender binary; gender variant person; person whose gender identity/expression does not conform to birth sex.

inbetweenlove:

before i marry any man, i will ask him: but how will you attempt to undo patriarchy? 

whilst patriarchy is an external social construct, for the most part it is ultimately perpetuated in the home and internalized as the first point of socialization for children. the home becomes the same place in which they first discover masculinity, femininity and all things gendered, inclusive of love. see, i have met many men who proclaim they are feminists but disappointedly turn out to be raging misogynists, so unaware of their complicity in the subordination of women they refuse to change their privilege in home life, behind close doors received from an inherited and comfortable chauvinism.

if we are to battle sexism in the public sphere i am a strong believer that it has to start and come from the home. so yes, i will ask the man i am to marry how he will attempt to undo patriarchy because i want my home to be a reflection of the freedom i envision for the world. and he will answer in a way that reassures me that love is not gendered, and that he is human first and foremost. 

krona:

I am slightly perturbed by statements such as “Just because I’m a feminist doesn’t mean I can’t {wear a miniskirt and make-up/shave all my body-hair off/love doing ‘girly’ things}”. Again, it presents itself as an incredibly liberal phrase at first, and I want to make clear very quickly that it is not the statement itself I take issue with but the thought (this is possibly where it gets confusing) behind it. Of course you can be a feminist and wear a miniskirt etc! Of course it’s about the choice, your choice!

But what choice do we have? Go back a hundred or two hundred years (or a lot less in most places) and the overwhelming honest response from womankind (at least in most western society) to stepping outside of their assigned cooking/cleaning/mothering roles would be a negative one. Even if they were to agree with the notion of a choice in the matter, they would choose to remain in those positions that we would judge as subservient and exploitative. It’s easy for us to look back, and down, on them.. but a lot harder to look at, and in, ourselves for the exact same opposition to change. We are in a different time, with different challenges. A number of extremely brave people have moved the battle (forward, some might say) - but to declare it over would be to undo their work.

In a privilege dynamic, it is always easy to conform to whatever standards are expected from you, whatever side of the lines you reside in, regardless of whether you mentally disagree. Simply playing your part reinforces those standards society-wide and in your own mind, increases the pressure on others to accept the status-quo, used as an excuse to force the same indoctrination on the next generation, and becomes a subsidy of the counter-attack against anyone who dares defy it. Resisting oppression is revolutionary. Conforming with oppression is not. Not even if you like it, especially not if you like it. On the one hand, none are free until all are, and on the other: do you really like it?

An example. You shave your body-hair off. Why? “Not for a man, I’m a feminist. I just don’t like it.” Yet where has this very common idea come from? It is a very recent idea too.. Consider the mountains and mountains of both blatant and subtle contemporary propaganda telling you practically every single day that body hair is obscene for a woman and desirable for a man. Now consider the possibility that the patriarchy has taken feminism, viciously tore a chunk out of it, and is now selling it back to us as a brand of sexism ‘now with added superiority to those pitiful women who serve men for men and not serve men for themselves! Because your own desires, as a woman, can’t be sexist.. can they?’

None of us are capable of making objective and completely individual decisions. Not me, not you. To declare yourself immune from the collective consciousness of the society which moulded you from birth is arrogance and insanity. We are brought up by an incredibly sexist/racist/etc society, and to not initially accept this upbringing in us and others robs us of our only chance of opposing it.

Fighting our conditioning is a constant and eternal process. Just because you identify yourself as ‘a feminist’ does not mean that you cannot act in ways which reinforce gender oppression. You will never be free except when you are consciously struggling; thinking that you are magically free of sexist influence is a trojan horse of defeat, albeit tempting - especially for those of us who have been struggling the hardest/longest/most painfully. 

These are pretty big and incomplete/flawed ideas so I would be incredibly appreciative of any feedback whatsoever, whomever you are, and I apologise in advance the the inevitable miscommunication.

-Eris :)

 ”To declare yourself immune from the collective consciousness of the society which moulded you from birth is arrogance and insanity.”

I love it <3 Perfectly said.  How is it empowering to hate you body so much that you even get it surgically altered?