|
View previous topic :: View next topic
|
|
| Author |
Message |
Revolution909
Age: 29
Location: Galway, Ireland's 4th City
|
- #131
- Posted: 06/13/2015 22:54
- Post subject:
|
| WindowAbove wrote: | | Personally I never heard of or thought about the idea of gender identity and being transgender until being on the internet a few years ago. I have always identified as male and did so because that is my sex, and I thought gender was an objective thing that was the same as sex. As for my views on this topic, I fully support transgender rights and I believe that if you identify as a gender opposite of your sex, then you are that gender and have every right to identify as being a gender or not. However, I don't fully understand the concept of identity; as in I don't understand how one could feel male, female, or neither. To me, I don't view male and female qualities as being very separate; I just think that women and men are both people. For those of you whom identify as the gender opposite of your sex, I would be interested in hearing about your history of gender identity and why you identify with your gender. I'm not trying to be insensitive and transphobic at all, I'm just very interested in what makes people transgender or agender and I would like to learn more. |
I'm far from the most interesting person regarding this topic, and I probably do not have the "right" answer, if such a thing exists. However, I shall proceed.
I think I am agender because I don't feel that the word "man" describes me on the inside. Phrases like "boy", "young man", "fella", "lad" etc. grate with me slightly when I am referred to with those words. In fact, they probably grate me more than if someone referred to me using corresponding female words, quite frankly. Maybe that just says I like a bit of variety in what I'm referred to as or maybe that signals something more significant and deep-rooted within myself.
I went to an all boys secondary school and I didn't feel like "one of the boys" or whatever. The whole sporty, rough-and-tumble, skirting around feelings/emotions, (mostly jovial) slagging behaviours were all things I experienced and could not relate to at all. To this day, I find it very difficult to strike up conversations with and maintain friendships with guys. Gimme some girls, some tea, a table and some chair and GUURRRRLLL we gonna chat and gossip hun. I don't feel the need to present myself as a strong, athletic, emotionally elusive "man" as many guys I've encountered do.
I don't know does all the above mean I'm agender and different to most people, or whether I'm just like everyone else and everybody feels agender like this. Perhaps I have some internal sexism against males going on that makes me not want to identify with them. I don't know.
I always just think of myself as a person. It's not a huge part of my personality that I share with people, it's just how I feel inside. I don't feel the need to present myself as either male or female, clothes-wise, so I just go for guy clothes. Though last Halloween, I dressed up as a girl. Twas fun. Will do again. 
I just don't feel gendered, in a similar way as to how you phrased it above in bold. Perhaps you are agender too?
_________________
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums
Top 100 Music Albums of the 2010s
|
|
|
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
|
Revolution909
Age: 29
Location: Galway, Ireland's 4th City
|
- #132
- Posted: 06/13/2015 23:25
- Post subject:
|
I think the whole transracial-trangender comparison is a very interesting (and also EXTREMELY flammable) topic to talk out. Discuss with caution guys, to avoid another derailment.  If there is a thread pertaining to race on BEA, perhaps discussion should be moved to there.
I don't think we know enough about the Dolezal story to be fully confident as to her motives and mental state, to be quite frank.
I find her pretending to be black to be rather puzzling. She could have achieved what she has achieved (her NAACP position and academic standing) by being honest. If she said "I'm white but I care deeply for African-American issues, I have been raised with black siblings and my spouse is black and I want to be of assistance, be an advocate and make society as a whole better for everyone", most sane people would fine with that.
The only two motives I see are mental illness, in which case she needs more help and understanding and less criticism, or a yearning for credibility, to feel she can talk more authoritatively about black issues if she portrays herself as black. If this is the case, her actions have backfired spectacularly, her credibility is in tatters. Maybe she was afraid of the "you're a white woman, what do you know?" opinions that would doubtlessly be directed at her.
Little evidence, to my knowledge, would support the idea of a racial dysphoria that is on a par with gender dysphoria. If I may make up an example on the spot, if a child is adopted at a young age from Ukraine and is raised in a Canadian household in Canada and is not told of their heritage, will the child have a deep yearning or affinity for things that are Ukrainian, and to present and adopt customs as such? I don't think so, though I'm will to be corrected on that. Now if you raise a Canadian girl as a Canadian boy, in boy clothes, giving her only boy haircuts and toys and present her to the world as a boy, will she yearn to present as a female. I would imagine that yes, she would.
Could it be that racial/cultural identity is more of an acquired attribute than gender?
Perhaps my Canada-Ukraine example is a poor example because a Ukrainian could "pass" as a Canadian. I don't know, my head hurts.
I'm no expert on race issues though no offence intended, if I have said something inadvertently distasteful (which I would like to know about). This issue shouldn't detract from Baltimore-Ferguson type stories, they're more important.
_________________
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums
Top 100 Music Albums of the 2010s
|
|
|
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
  |
All times are GMT
|
| Page 14 of 14 |
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
|
|
