You’re a woman/At least you say you are...
You’re a woman/At least you look like you are...
(from “Stepping Stone” by Jimi Hendrix)
I got one of those prospective juror information forms in the mail, from the District Court in Topeka, KS no less, and I was obliged to tell a little about myself, or at least check the boxes that are somewhat correct, or somehow relate to my existence. I don’t want to be a juror, but my name was chosen at random, and I have to do my “citizen” thing, you know...
Anyway, near the bottom of the form was a place to indicate what sex I am. There was a little oval box for “male,” and another little oval box for “female.” I had to fill in one of those boxes. I’m rarely asked to indicate my gender, but here was a chance to do so. After being on this site for several years, I immediately wondered why there was no box for “transgender.” The absence of anything but a male-female choice was intriguing, to say the least...
What if a transgender individual got a form like this, and there was no place to indicate that you are TG? Since you’re posting in this section, which implies an MtF direction, would you fill in the little box next to “female?” That seems logical, but what if the authorities, on the other end (the ones who will process this information) have no patience for anything but M or F? Keep in mind that we’re in KANSAS, not the most liberal place on Earth, and gender issues are very much cut and dried, or subjugated amidst a conformist atmosphere...
Of course, I know that transgender people exist, and I know they would give pause to a simple thing like “declaring” one’s gender in a public arena. The very fact that it’s either MALE or FEMALE on a juror form indicates, to me at least, that there is zero tolerance for alternatives. It may be different in other, more progressive states, but here in Kansas boys are boys and girls are girls, period. Without really saying anything, or indicating there are other ways of being, a tacit reinforcement along M-F lines is being perpetuated. Is this fair? Is this antiquated?
It all seems very odd, yet revealing, to me, a person who skirts the edge of gender variance on a daily basis. I mean, on this form there were several different boxes for marital status, and many different boxes for race, but only two for gender – male or female. I know, you can’t compare apples and oranges, and there are two recognized and understood genders (as seen on TV), but what about those people who are neither one nor the other, but somewhere in-between? Is this the time to stand up and be counted, or is this the time to educate the un-listening majority about one’s interesting existence? Male or Female? Reality is infinitely more subtle...
Would you, the MtF crossdresser, fill in the box for “Male,” or the one for “Female?”
What did I do? I grabbed my #2 pencil and filled in “Male.” I nearly broke the lead. Next question...