[culturehandy]

I pitched this in the Community Forum and it was well recieved.

This thread is all about the politics and cross cultural and societal views on gender.

I started thinking increasingly about gender when the media frenzy about Caster Semenya emerged. It is my opinion that the only reason people questioned Ms. Semenya's gender is because she appeared to be "masculine". That is, she looked masculine according to the ideas of society at large. Had she had softer, more "feminine" features, questions of her gender would not have come up.

So, what is gender? We know that there is sex, your biological sex, but gender is a social construct.

[stargazer]

GT, why did you remove your post?? You made some great points.

Well, going along your previous post. I've often wondered if men and women dressed the part of their associated sex. Makes me think of something RuPaul said that in a sense we dress in drag on a daily basis 'cause our sexuality is so socially constructed based on ideals. I grew up feeling pretty ambiguous. I guess that is always what I struggled with in terms of my own sexual identity. I didn't feel like a woman or girl 'cause I didn't totally get alot the things other girls my age were into. I felt forced in a sense to idealize marriage and children at the age of 9. I remember being focused on what type of career I wanted for myself. Ideas associated with men, therefore masculinity. Then, my late teens and 20s were about trying different dress types, etc. I didn't like the feeling associated with being feminine, for example, submissive, passive, mother, wife. Probably why I've avoided those roles and still do for some reason. I felt and still do to some extent trapped in gender roles, particularly feminine gender role.

Gosh, sometimes, I do feel like that Liz Phair song, Polyester Bride, "Do you want to be a polyester bride? Do you want to hang your head and die?" I wish my individuality didn't matter so much. I guess I still struggle with how much of my constructed feminine self is mine and how much is co-opted.

Dude, I hope I'm making sense.

ETA: Here's the link about Kinsey Scale, JSmith.

[ketto]

Well, going along your previous post. I've often wondered if men and women dressed the part of their associated sex. Makes me think of something RuPaul said that in a sense we dress in drag on a daily basis 'cause our sexuality is so socially constructed based on ideals.

I've just been lurking in this thread, but this made me think of a great quote by Marilyn Frye.

"It is wonderful that homosexuals and lesbians are mocked and judged for "playing butch-femme roles" and for dressing in "butch-femme drag", for nobody goes about in full public view so thoroughly decked out in butch and femme drag as respectable heterosexuals when they are dressed up to go out in the evening, or to go to church, or to go to the office. Heterosexual critics of queer "role-playing" ought to look at themselves in the mirror on their way out for a night on the town to see who's in drag. The answer is, everybody is. Perhaps the main difference between heterosexuals and queers is that when queers go forth in drag, they know they are engaged in theatre - they are playing and they know they are playing. Heterosexuals are usually taking it all perfectly seriously, thinking they are in the real world, thinking they are the real world."

[hcbeck]

Marilyn Frye:

"...when queers go forth in drag, they know they are engaged in theatre - they are playing and they know they are playing. Heterosexuals are usually taking it all perfectly seriously, thinking they are in the real world, thinking they are the real world."

This is probably true for the way people speak too.

When I was growing up I considered why some gay men affect a sibilant 'sing-song' voice. One explanation was so that they could telegraph their sexual preference to others. If that's true, I guessed that heterosexual men must also affect a specific way of speaking, to communicate their sexuality. This might be adopted so that people wouldn't 'get the wrong idea' (for the homophobes, being 'accused' of being gay is a great fear). As this 'straight-male' way of speaking is so common, we all consider it natural - instead of being as much an affectation as speaking any other way.