Dehumanization.
Someone wrote…
I know the names of lots of genders, but not the name of my own. I have no idea what it is. And I’m not interested in deciphering it, justifying it, or figuring it out. I don’t want to theorize about it or discuss its social implications. I don’t want it written down or thought through.
Not being female and not being male — it’s not exotic, cool, post-queer, postmodern, a philosophical conundrum, a sociocultural guinea pig. We are common and real, and to call somebody an Other (even a special Other, a cool kind of freak) only serves to dehumanize that person.
How should we as a community (or non-community) prevent the “dehumanization” of each other, especially in regards to non-binary gender?
Posted by julian on March 4th, 2009 at 08:00 am
Category: your voice 3 comments »
March 5th, 2009 at 9:25 pm |
thanks for saying what I was thinking :)
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March 6th, 2009 at 6:26 pm |
I feel similar to this a lot. I often feel like I’m not hip enough to fit in with other gender transgressors–I’m not postmodern, cool, or funky enough. I’m just someone who is trying to make it through life, trying to get somewhere, worried about the economy, taking care of my health, etc.
I’m in school, trying to get off disability and go back to work. I don’t have a million tattoos and piercings (hey, who’s got the money for that?), haven’t read all the latest books on postmodern theory (no time), don’t hang out at some chic S&M club (like there’s even one in my town, right?). I’m not a good-looking young hipster from San Francisco. I’m not an artist or poet. I’m not in an anarchist punk band. I’m not even a cool “street” type hip-hop person of color. I’m just some low-income middle aged person living in a red state. I’m probably not interesting enough to write a documentary about. Sometimes I feel like my kind of genderqueer doesn’t matter. :(
Sorry to take over your comment with a whine/rant–this just sort of got to me, so I wanted to get that off my chest.
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March 7th, 2009 at 5:20 pm |
well hell yes Anonymous, i most certainly wanted to hear from people like you. (:
i’ve felt very disconnected in the past from the idea of “genderqueer” being primarily a community/ideology/presentation rather than an identity, both from gq and non-gq folks. for me, genderqueer has a lot to do with personal body dysphoria (i.e. my body’s sex fundamentally should not be male or female) and that tends to get swallowed up in “oh you’re smashing the two-gender system, how revolutionary of you!”
like … nah, i’m not smashing anything, just trying to get comfortable in my skin, and my definition of “comfortable” is something most people view as monstrous, and that’s screwed up.
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