[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.

[girltrouble]

the one that i mentioned that comes across as everyone's favorite crazy aunt, i think is actually very sweet, and not very hateful. but no, in the same way that burlesque can be used to comment on feminine/gender rolls, so can drag, and one doesn't need to be an anti to do it. after all one can be attractive and smart, they aren't mutually exclusive. that said, there is a huge emphasis on beauty/sexuality for transwomen. quite honestly i have a ambiguous feeling towards the constant sexualization of t-girls. i know a lot of t-girls hate it, the jerry springer wave years back. my feeling is that is how these things start. this is my theory of the cultural assimilation of a minority other. it is what happens with all minorities. first the repellant alien stage, then it progresses to curiosity, then fetish/sex object, then, when that other becomes visible enough, the other is villified, and cast as villians, tricksters, then neutral, then friends, then as people. the first part of it is never really desirable, but in order for society at large, they need to go thru those steps to feel comfortable with someone that is "different." so while it might not be all that enjoyable to see nothing but sexualized images, if we take a broad view, visibility is raised, and the journey to being viewed by society slowly moves forward. but that is my theory. some people hate it, and i understand why. but my point isn't to say it's good. it's just that those are the steps as i see them. feel free to pick the theory apart. all theories should be tested to see if they hold water.