Stall
Posted by Sarah Dopp on September 30th, 2007 at 08:00 am
The following performance piece is called “Gender Game.” It was written by Alix Olsen and Amy Neevel, translated into Hebrew by Ophir, Friedman and Gur, and performed here by Gurnisht Nice-Ass. The words are phenomenal, and they’re posted below. But watch this video even if you can’t understand the language. Because the message is clear.
Gender Game
©2001 Alix Olson.
co-written by amy neevel
You wanna give me a shiner
Cause I look like this
And I got a vagina?
See, I’m familiar with this Gender Game,
I’ve played this war many times before
On this playground called my identity
When puberty hit like dodge balls
And freeze-tagged as sissy-fagged
My best friend dissed me- common interests,
Different anatomy.
See, vagina meant quieter, caretaker, peacemaker.
Vagina meant keeping lips closed, keeping bodies posed.
Vagina was silent dolls and no action toys,
Vagina was punches when I played with the boys.
So I learned to take it in the stomach, I learned to Fight to make friends.
Continue reading »
Wikipedia has a pretty impressive list of unisex names available for your perusal. For inclusion, each name must fit at least one of these criteria:
Many of the names on the list, surprisingly, don’t strike me as unisex. But maybe my worldview is small. That’s been proven to be the case more than once in the past.
Source: Wikipedia: Unisex Name
(The Crash Test Dummies also cover this song, and I like their version better… but I can’t seem to find a video for it. Also, I’m a little annoyed that Dick is not wearing a skirt in this video. But hey, Joan Jett is hot…)
Dear Passersby,
Welcome to Genderfork! This is a new blog — please add it to your feed reader and make yourself at home. Within this space, we’ll be exploring androgyny and other gender intersections. My name’s Andi*, and I’ll be your host.
I have two personal goals for this project:
…because I think we can all agree: Gender is a loaded word.
In some communities, it is sacred territory — we are assigned a gender at birth, it is a given, and there’s just no need to discuss it after that, thankyouverymuch.
In some communities, it feels under attack — we are assigned a gender at birth, and then some people take it upon themselves to change their genders, and then we feel very embarrassed when we don’t know what pronouns to use.
In some communities, it is Play-Doh — we are assigned a gender at birth but we recognize that it’s a flawed system, and so we turn it into a malleable and fluctuating medium for expression and try to have fun with it.
(This is an oversimplification, I know, so I hope you’re still following me.)
Sometimes, these communities have to interact with each other, and that often involves anger and pain. I know this because I am a member of all of these communities. And I hope that all of these communities will feel welcome here.
I want to help humanize this conversation. I believe connections break down community walls and create new spaces for growth. Because of this, you will see a lot of photographs of faces and bodies here (most of them blogged via flickr with respect for copyrights). Some will be beautiful. Some will be uncomfortable. All will be real people with real lives and real stories to tell. You’ll find that I am more interested in experience than academics. I like to look people in the eye.
So I’m just gonna set up shop here, at this fork in the Gender Road, and see who passes by. I do hope you will come join me for a glass of lemonade, a conversation, and some lovely people-watching. Really, it’s a beautiful day to be inspired — you can’t argue with that.
And I am glad you’re here.
Much love,
Andi
* The truth is out. My real name is Sarah.