….this is me attempting to further define my own gender while phrasing it in such a way that assumes that there may be others out there who have a similar gender identity and who may someday like to use this term for themselves. a huge assumption on my part.
a blurb about labels, their importance and why i use them. because i talk too damn much: @00:00 – update about my mom @00:52 – labels: more than just identity @05:22 – labels can suck @07:08 – why labels are important & why i use them i’m a little crazy in the beginning, but i swear i start making sense towards the end. ;(
GENDER it isn’t black & white no matter how much you want it to be …i made this for several reasons. it bothers me when i see someone’s gender identity being ignored, erased or invalidated for any reason*. it bothers me when i see people bitching about there being “too many labels” just because they themselves lack the need for them. it bothers me when i see people both within and outside of the LGBTQIA community (esp. within the genderqueer and non-binary communities) trying so hard to define this and that that they begin to paint things black & white, oversimplifying things to the point of erasing the shades of gray that so many people actually find comfort in. it bothers me when someone feels that they have the right to tell someone else that they aren’t the gender that they identify as because they don’t want to transition medically,…
so, there’s a thread on AVEN that opens like this… A new (to me) concept was recently thrown in my path. It’s the idea that there are sex orientations as well as gender orientations; ie that sex is not strictly what you physically look like, but what you want to look like (sexual characteristics-wise). For example, neutrois would count as a sex orientation, not a gender one; neutrois, as I understand it, is a desire to present as neutrally as possible, with the characteristics of neither binary sex. However, agender and genderless are gender orientations, because they specifically refer to the construct of gender, not physical aspects. This made a lot of sense to me, intuitively. It allows us to think of a single person as both neutrois and agender, to follow the above examples. Or neutrois and demi-guy, or androgynous man, or female agender, or any combination. I’m wondering how many…
i’ve never identified as a feminist and yet when it came to questioning my gender identity i somehow felt guilty for wanting to identify as anything other than my assigned gender, ie female. was i betraying myself? someone else? women everywhere?? i guess my relationship with feminism was and will always be more complicated than i’d thought. surely it’s not just me?
many people use the word “queer” to describe or label their identity in regards to their sexuality and/or their gender. it’s a word that references the heteronormativity within society and expresses the fact that one identifies as being outside of or beyond such normativity… but is the word queer strictly limited to that? i have a feeling that this topic may bring about very strong opinions in some people… please be gentle! i’m genuinely curious. …better late than never? ;(
this was a video request by someone requesting the definitions of transmaculine and transfeminine, but i kind of ran with it and included my opinion…. also i used finger quotes too often for some reason…. sorry. please feel free to correct me if i am wrong or to share your opinions/understanding of these words. for reference: http://gender.wikia.com/wiki/Transmasculine a video made by request. i blurb about my understanding of these identities and my opinion on the words themselves. i’d really like to hear others’ experiences/feelings/etc because i’m well aware of the fact that there is lots that i don’t know or may have misunderstood. care to share your thoughts?
want to know more? see: Wikipedia: Genderfuck “Genderfuck and Ignorance” by Zoe Aleshire
