Moments of Permanence - In which Sami's view on gender identity boils down to "shut up, it's not your call"

From: rainbow Date: September 29th, 2009 07:19 am (UTC) (Link)

I think they care because they feel scared and threatened. I'm not clear why it scares them so badly, although I suspect basic insecurity; if self-identity is based on externals and how others perceive you instead of who you are inside, seeing others challenge your preconceptions of what's normal may be very scary adn threatening.


Years ago my friend Brandon loved to ride BART while reading the Wall Street Journal and decked out in his most outlandish and spiky punk outfits, just to challenge ppl's preconceptions of "punk".

Strangers treated me very differntly meeting me as a man vs a woman back in the 80s, even though my behavior was pretty gender neutral and didn't change a whole lot (posture and walk and vocal style, yes. Other behaviour, not much).

And meeting someone the 2nd time as a differnt gender freaked some ppl out badly (possibly the more so since my friends treated me the same). fortunately in that time and in those places it wasn't ever a violent reaction, just quiet (usually) freak outs.

Some people who are not secure in who they are do seem to have a lot more trouble with having their preconceptions challenged than people who don't give a damn who others think they *should* me and just merrily go on their way being who they want to be. And the first group really resents the 2nd group, I think.

Argh, I've had sleepy meds and I'm babblng, I think. So I will stop and just say I agree that gender is and should be part of self identify and up to each person to define for themselves.

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