Tuesday, September 14, 2010

"Fag Bashing & Slut Shaming"

Fag Bashing & Slut Shaming: It’s About Policing Gender Roles
"I’m not going to argue that there aren’t any general trends in gender differences, although I do think that many things that we usually consider masculine or feminine are culturally based. Even for the things that show a statistically-significant difference between men and women, there are still plenty of people who have characteristics that are less common for people of their sex. People are not bell curves.

This is why we need to make room for gender diversity. Not only isn’t gender an either/or, it’s not even on a spectrum. The spectrum model, while allowing for more possibilities, still presents it as a zero-sum experience. It makes it seem as if, the more you have of one, the less you must have of the other. That approach reifies and reinforces the idea that there’s an opposition."

This is a view of an old issue - the ever present slut/sexy double standard for women - with a new twist that includes gender identities. I've heard a lot of people arguing over the issue, or simply grumbling about it, but mostly the conversation was about sex and not gender.

Thinking of it now, the topic of gender identity has always been lurking under the surface. It's integral to the debate of how we view and label the sexuality of others based on their sex and, now that I realize it, their gender identity.

The article also has some pictures along the way which I think are books dealing with similar topics, so if you're absolutely captivated you'll know where to go.

No comments:

Post a Comment