Frédérique
03-10-2012, 11:46 PM
Gender: A socio-cultural phenomenon that divides people into various categories such as "male" and "female," with each having associated dress, roles, stereotypes, etc. (Wiktionary)
Gender: A societal construct that is, in actuality, about as useless and restrictive as race. (The Urban Dictionary)
Recently I was reading a mini-essay by the late, great George Carlin (future prophet of the Third Millennium), and he pointed out that the word GENDER has replaced the word SEX these days, chiefly because the former word is less offensive, or less vulgar, than the latter word. This is just another example of how euphemisms are employed to take the sting out of language, and thus deflect attention away from issues that require attention – “issues” is another euphemism, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves...
Euphemisms are everywhere, and they are replacing the language I grew up with. Not only is gender a substitute for sex, old people are now senior citizens (or people of age), slow children are minimally exceptional, handicapped individuals (cripples) are now differently abled, the dump is the sanitary landfill, manicurists are nail technicians, and so forth. Lots of soft language, meant to soften the minds and avoid things head-on – maybe the problems will go away (or a task will sound more noble) if we give them different names! Gender is a pejorative used in place of sex, a product of our times...
By definition, gender is a property of nouns and pronouns. A noun can have one of three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter. Gender is never male or female; that is sex. Of course, gender can mean sex, if you wish to employ colloquialisms in place of actual definitions, but I just find it interesting that the word sex is so offensive, or so vulgar, that someone decided to mask it with a new, or replacement, word. Did this originate in America, the place where sex is practiced but not discussed (out in the open), the place where there are more sexually and emotionally repressed people per square mile than any other place on Earth? I wonder...
I understand that gender refers to one’s mode of self-reflection, i.e. dealing with how you “see” yourself in terms of your sex. There are two sexes, but countless genders (so I’ve read). Are we supposed to ask “What is your gender?” or “What is your sex?” It all seems like a smokescreen to me, keeping things ambiguous and preventing any real understanding into gender issues (there’s that word again!). Since I’m a member on this site, I use the terms gender-specific, gender-queer and gender-blurring without thinking too much about it, in fact gender-queer attempts to mollify that nasty word “queer,” doesn’t it? Of course crossdressing, in our case the MtF variety, is a sex problem because it generates confusion in the sexual mind, not to mention confusion within the rigid expectations of sexual society. Think of a bull in a china shop (or a dress shop), upsetting the applecart during the ensuing melee. You’re literally trying on the opposite sex, and turning away from your own, much to everyone’s bitter chagrin, I’m sure...
If you’re trying to explain to your wife, or sister, or friend, or confidante what crossdressing is all about, do you begin by saying, “I’m having conflicting issues with my birth gender?” I expect the person’s eyes will glaze over forthwith. How about, “I fancy being like the opposite sex?” That’s more to the point, isn’t it? You may be only concerned with deriving pleasure from dressing out of your gender (I mean sex), and your sexuality may not be in question. In that case, is your gender-ality under pressure, gender-ly speaking? Personally, I’d rather be neuter and go both ways! Much like crossdressing is a euphemism for transvestism (another word American CD’ers hate to hear applied to them), gender is a less “troublesome” way of saying sex. Even if I’m straddling the genders (sexes) as I crossdress (trans-vest), current language insists on beating around the bush (pun intended)...
Are there such things as gender crimes? Maybe receiving abuse for doing a relatively innocent thing like crossdressing qualifies as a crime, but is it a sex crime? How about gender abuse? If a GG derides me for wearing clothes meant for her, isn’t that gender (sexual) abuse? She should know, but is it any wonder I keep out of sight, concerned for my own safety? I don’t want to be another gender (i.e. sex) victim, after all. Perhaps I can become a gender object, and nobody will know how to take me, just like now...
I used to work on a large chicken farm, and once every year you would hear the term “sex the chickens.” That doesn’t mean have sex with the poultry, it means look at (specifically inside) the chicken, and determine its sex. If someone had said, “Boys, get ready to gender the chickens,” we would’ve stood around staring at each other with looks of bewilderment. Sex is an easy word to understand, whereas gender sounds too much like render, which, ironically, is what’s going on with language these days. Maybe gender is an appropriate word for crossdressers if you make it into engender, meaning make something come into being, such as: "I wasn’t too crazy about what my birth gender (sex) was supposed to do, so I engendered Freddy to take HIS place." Simple, eh? In this way I can crossdress, skip the sexuality, blur the genders (definition pending), and go about my merry way experimenting to my heart’s content. Don’t I look sexy (I mean gender-y)?
Well, I have to go wiggle into my prosthetic undergarments, anoint my skin with precious ebullient, and alter my human framework so I can slip into that feminine outer covering I’m so fond of, enveloping me in a sea of blissful calm. After that I can engage in my extra-dwelling alternative wardrobe excursions, perhaps stopping by the local gender shop to pick up a new gender toy or two – I’m feeling very gender-y today, a variation on the boy I am. Since I’m reasonably happy with my birth gender, bender-blurring is a fun activity, making me gender-queer by association. Needless to say, I’ll be playing with Gender, whoever SHE is. Alas, being a boy means thinking about gender all day long – it can be SO exhausting. Pardon me while I tuck my rather insistent gender away...
Why say gender when you mean SEX? Are we all so afraid of the “S” word? :idontknow:
Gender: A societal construct that is, in actuality, about as useless and restrictive as race. (The Urban Dictionary)
Recently I was reading a mini-essay by the late, great George Carlin (future prophet of the Third Millennium), and he pointed out that the word GENDER has replaced the word SEX these days, chiefly because the former word is less offensive, or less vulgar, than the latter word. This is just another example of how euphemisms are employed to take the sting out of language, and thus deflect attention away from issues that require attention – “issues” is another euphemism, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves...
Euphemisms are everywhere, and they are replacing the language I grew up with. Not only is gender a substitute for sex, old people are now senior citizens (or people of age), slow children are minimally exceptional, handicapped individuals (cripples) are now differently abled, the dump is the sanitary landfill, manicurists are nail technicians, and so forth. Lots of soft language, meant to soften the minds and avoid things head-on – maybe the problems will go away (or a task will sound more noble) if we give them different names! Gender is a pejorative used in place of sex, a product of our times...
By definition, gender is a property of nouns and pronouns. A noun can have one of three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter. Gender is never male or female; that is sex. Of course, gender can mean sex, if you wish to employ colloquialisms in place of actual definitions, but I just find it interesting that the word sex is so offensive, or so vulgar, that someone decided to mask it with a new, or replacement, word. Did this originate in America, the place where sex is practiced but not discussed (out in the open), the place where there are more sexually and emotionally repressed people per square mile than any other place on Earth? I wonder...
I understand that gender refers to one’s mode of self-reflection, i.e. dealing with how you “see” yourself in terms of your sex. There are two sexes, but countless genders (so I’ve read). Are we supposed to ask “What is your gender?” or “What is your sex?” It all seems like a smokescreen to me, keeping things ambiguous and preventing any real understanding into gender issues (there’s that word again!). Since I’m a member on this site, I use the terms gender-specific, gender-queer and gender-blurring without thinking too much about it, in fact gender-queer attempts to mollify that nasty word “queer,” doesn’t it? Of course crossdressing, in our case the MtF variety, is a sex problem because it generates confusion in the sexual mind, not to mention confusion within the rigid expectations of sexual society. Think of a bull in a china shop (or a dress shop), upsetting the applecart during the ensuing melee. You’re literally trying on the opposite sex, and turning away from your own, much to everyone’s bitter chagrin, I’m sure...
If you’re trying to explain to your wife, or sister, or friend, or confidante what crossdressing is all about, do you begin by saying, “I’m having conflicting issues with my birth gender?” I expect the person’s eyes will glaze over forthwith. How about, “I fancy being like the opposite sex?” That’s more to the point, isn’t it? You may be only concerned with deriving pleasure from dressing out of your gender (I mean sex), and your sexuality may not be in question. In that case, is your gender-ality under pressure, gender-ly speaking? Personally, I’d rather be neuter and go both ways! Much like crossdressing is a euphemism for transvestism (another word American CD’ers hate to hear applied to them), gender is a less “troublesome” way of saying sex. Even if I’m straddling the genders (sexes) as I crossdress (trans-vest), current language insists on beating around the bush (pun intended)...
Are there such things as gender crimes? Maybe receiving abuse for doing a relatively innocent thing like crossdressing qualifies as a crime, but is it a sex crime? How about gender abuse? If a GG derides me for wearing clothes meant for her, isn’t that gender (sexual) abuse? She should know, but is it any wonder I keep out of sight, concerned for my own safety? I don’t want to be another gender (i.e. sex) victim, after all. Perhaps I can become a gender object, and nobody will know how to take me, just like now...
I used to work on a large chicken farm, and once every year you would hear the term “sex the chickens.” That doesn’t mean have sex with the poultry, it means look at (specifically inside) the chicken, and determine its sex. If someone had said, “Boys, get ready to gender the chickens,” we would’ve stood around staring at each other with looks of bewilderment. Sex is an easy word to understand, whereas gender sounds too much like render, which, ironically, is what’s going on with language these days. Maybe gender is an appropriate word for crossdressers if you make it into engender, meaning make something come into being, such as: "I wasn’t too crazy about what my birth gender (sex) was supposed to do, so I engendered Freddy to take HIS place." Simple, eh? In this way I can crossdress, skip the sexuality, blur the genders (definition pending), and go about my merry way experimenting to my heart’s content. Don’t I look sexy (I mean gender-y)?
Well, I have to go wiggle into my prosthetic undergarments, anoint my skin with precious ebullient, and alter my human framework so I can slip into that feminine outer covering I’m so fond of, enveloping me in a sea of blissful calm. After that I can engage in my extra-dwelling alternative wardrobe excursions, perhaps stopping by the local gender shop to pick up a new gender toy or two – I’m feeling very gender-y today, a variation on the boy I am. Since I’m reasonably happy with my birth gender, bender-blurring is a fun activity, making me gender-queer by association. Needless to say, I’ll be playing with Gender, whoever SHE is. Alas, being a boy means thinking about gender all day long – it can be SO exhausting. Pardon me while I tuck my rather insistent gender away...
Why say gender when you mean SEX? Are we all so afraid of the “S” word? :idontknow: