I have a complicated relationship with gender as a trans woman and someone who has existed on both sides of the “gender binary” for quite a while. My first memories of gender were very alienating. As a young boy, I never felt like I fit in with other boys my age, and was too afraid of the girls to ask to join them. As a young boy, I was expected to like masculine things and I did for a while. I did what I was told and learned to like it as much as I could. In retrospect, these expectations harmed me and prolonged my discovery of my true self for years after the fact. The forced inclusion in masculine activities I never felt like I belonged in, exposed me to a lot of discrimination and bullying by others.
I believe the distinction between genders is meaningless not only on a socially constructed level but also on a physiological level. The pervasiveness of the gender binary and its effects on society hurts us all, not just socially with the categorization of “boys” and “girls” into certain activities and hobbies, but also the vast majority of intersex individuals who don’t fall into this binary. Being a trans woman and surrounding myself with transgender individuals of all kinds have shown me that no single characteristic is implicitly tied to either men, women, or non-binary individuals.
The definition of masculinity and femininity has been severely muddled in the past century and any attempt to define or categorize traits and characteristics is a futile effort. The things we in America might consider masculine or feminine might be considered differently in other cultures not just now but throughout history.
I do not because a binary is restrictive and nature does not operate in binaries. Any attempt to categorize large swaths of any population is bound to discriminate and exclude parts of that population. For example, say that you want to define what a woman is. One might say that a woman is anyone who can bear a child. Well by that logic, any woman who suffers from infertility is not a woman, and vice versa with any man who is also infertile. Then you might say a woman is anyone with XX chromosomes. Well by that logic, any man or woman with chromosomal abnormalities such as XXY or with XYY is not a man or woman.
Scarlett red metal spikes and dense fog on a cold fall morning Gender Equality is important as we are all effected by gender inequality and is a kind of inequality that transcends race and ethnicity.
Many times in my life, I have felt restricted because of my gender or my appearance. Whether that be sports or interests I’ve wanted to hold, facilities I’ve wanted to use but did not feel comfortable doing so. The most influential thing that made me feel that way was the fear of being discriminated or forcibly removed from that area.
Freedom, expression, community, flowerbed
It would stay the same as I am already involved with almost exclusively LGBTQ+ people.
