Lady brains, what are they?
No, I'm not being funny. Lately, many a news story is filled with parents pumping their under ten children (mainly boy children if my stats serve me correctly) with female hormones. Their kids tell them that inside they are girls, you see. So parents rush to reassign sexual identity and suppress the testosterone.
And what is the male child's perception of "girl?" Pink? Flounces? Sparkles? Giggles?
This was all brought to mind by Bruce Jenner, 65, now transitioning to "woman". Tossing his hair and salivating over a black lace dress. He feels like a "woman" too. Has anyone asked him what does that mean? "Feeling like a woman" I mean?
I couldn't tell you what feeling like a woman is. And I was born one. With all the parts. Same as I couldn't tell you what feeling like a man is. All I can tell you about is my lived experience as a woman which differs greatly from that of a male - because of being categorized as "female" early in life and thus denied the advantages of my brothers - but that would take another blog post to extrapolate. Or three.
So why this crushing compulsion in humans to sort other humans into gender boxes? From the moment of birth - "It's a ___"
Why can't little boys wear dresses if they want to and play with their dollies, if they want to?
Why are we injecting hormones into children and chopping off/suppressing their sexuality when they may just want to explore out of normal childish curiosity?
Has this whole human race experiment run its course when Bruce Jenner gets 2 hours with Diane Sawyer in prime time and the devastation in Nepal is ignored?
Just asking.
I don't know what this is about. Seriously. When I worked in a prison some of the men were taking female hormones and wanted to dish with me about girl stuff . Katha Pollitt and some other feminists are skeptical about whether this is really a woman's issue. Could this be yet another male intrusion into female space?
ReplyDeleteCertainly there are babies born with ambiguous genitals,but that's another matter.
I appreciate it that you have brought up this issue.
Sorry, but I think there's a lot you don't understand about being transgender. It's not a question of gender stereotypes or pumping children with hormones. It's a simple situation of someone not identifying with their visible gender and feeling agonisingly, often suicidally, detached from it. We all have an inner gender identity, and if that doesn't in any way conform to how others see us, it leads to a crippling mental conflict. Regendering is the only way to resolve the conflict.
ReplyDeleteYoung children are not having their gender forcibly reassigned or being pumped with female hormones. They are getting puberty-blockers which prevent full maturity in their given gender, so that if they still want to regender when they are older, the transition will be easier. Puberty-blockers can be totally reversed if necessary.
I agree that Bruce Jenner has had an absurd amount of publicity for what is now a very routine process, and if he had any sense he would decline to be interviewed and just get on with it. As you say, the earthquake in Nepal is genuine news, as opposed to yet another TG celeb.
Hattie I'm with you. Female space is being compromised dreadfully and attacks by MTF TGs becoming far too frequent to name just one of the issues.
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I've known a few MTF in my time Nick but the question still remains: what does "feeling like a woman" mean, exactly?
ReplyDeleteThe MTF's I have known and befriended were completely stereotypical of extreme femininity with super-high heels, blonde (of course) and masses of makeup and gossiped. A lot. As if this was what being a woman was. Thus setting feminism back 100 years. They were all waiting for their prince to rescue them to suburbia.
So this was "feeling like a woman to them".
So yes, I'm genuinely confused.
I'm not being funny. I am curious.
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And PS Bruce Jenner is making scads and scads of money off this transition.
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I’ve often felt like a man. Having one, that is, not being one.
ReplyDeleteIgnoring Nepal? Truly?
Well I'm a young person inside but due to my advanced age I am regarded as an old person,unfairly in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteHa Ha Hattie!
ReplyDeleteI think I hear where you're coming from, WWW; what if none of us were "gendered" from birth, but could just BE? Be either, or, or both when it suited us, dress how we wanted, and not have certain characteristics be considered male or female, but simply human.
That said, I don't actually know what I'm talking about.
Friko:
ReplyDeleteYes, primetime viewing was all about Jenner. 2 hours of him/her.
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It's all about appearance, eh Hattie ?!
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SJG:
ReplyDeleteYes, exactly. Of course then there'd be no big bucks to be made on gendering and dieting and pink for girls and blue for boys and ne'er the twain shall meet, right?
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Of course Stubblejumpin Gal is right, if we were all the same gender things would be a damn sight easier, but unfortunately gender still reigns supreme and we're all expected to behave in a way "appropriate" to our body. Otherwise we get bullied and ridiculed to hell and back.
ReplyDeletewww, I think your super-feminine MTFs aren't typical. There are plenty of TG women out there who are much more restrained. I'm thinking Paris Lees or Stephanie Hirst, for example. The bottle blondes in heels just get more publicity precisely because they're seen as super-feminine.
I only talk about the ones I know Nick, do you know any personally?
ReplyDeleteAs to gender - I'm an abolitionist, genderising has done more harm to the human race than I'd say anything else.
I, for one, fight it every chance I get.
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Do I know any personally? That's a very awkward question and I'm not going to answer it here. Maybe I could email you?
ReplyDeleteI do agree that genderising causes many many problems. If men and women were allowed to just be themselves, free of entirely artificial gender stereotypes, the world would be a much better place. And regendering would of course be meaningless.
Sure Nick wisewebwomanatgmail.com - I look forward to it.
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Just as long as no one makes fun of or bullies the person who dresses or acts differently, then I have no qualms about all of this. However, children are often bullied at school if they do not act or look like all of the rest. That's where we need to do more work, to help our children be more accepting of all people, no matter how they look.
ReplyDeleteDKZ - I agree. This "othering" starts in the home along with all the other "isms" of intolerance, particularly of those who are "different." As if "different" from the herd mentality was a crime.
ReplyDeleteIt would be a far better world if we all celebrated each others' differences. There might be some hope for a change.
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I seem indifferent but am not. What I am is from the San Francisco Bay Area. Gays, transgenders, etc. etc. may be big news in the boonies, but I grew up with all that and am perfectly comfortable with it. Gay and transgender issues been dealt with and the battle is won, at least in enlightened places. It's hard for me to relate to solemn PC thinking on the topic. It's really easy to pat oneself on the back about tolerance toward sexual difference, since we all know that gays and transgender people are not a threat but just targets of persecution for some. And these targets are doing a splendid job of defending themselves. From the "straight" perspective, this is an easy way out and leaves one free to go on despising poor moms and people of color and women in need of abortions.
ReplyDeleteClaims of normality are pretty shaky, anyway, especially these days. Lots of stuff goes on and always has gone on.
Sorry for the rant, but couldn't help myself.
What about babies born with Ambiguous genitalia? You might find this link helpful:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.patient.co.uk/doctor/ambiguous-genitalia
PS: I know of one or two in Ireland
Grannymar: Interesting. Thanks. I know of a family where both children had anomalies like that.
ReplyDeletewell said, especially the last paragraph!
ReplyDeleteInterestingly enough GM, mother, in her youth, shared a dormitory with a hermaphrodite and I roomed with a woman who gave birth to one when I had elder Daughter. It was heartbreaking listening to the decision process of "what gender?" Viable genitals, etc. Again, why not tolerate the anomaly until maturation of the child?
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Hattie:
ReplyDeleteYes, I too hate the distractions generated by M2F, keeping the focus off violence against women (through the roof) homelessness, etc. And again and again abortion goes on and off the table and women live in dire need of health care and we continue to murder aboriginal women in Canada.
I'm on your page.
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Welcome Gil!
ReplyDeletethanks!
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Good Lord! I did not know that they now inject children with female hormones. All I can say is "Nuts!"
ReplyDeleteYes, Ramana and no studies done on the long range effects of this on helpless children who could just be experimenting with identity.
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