The Language of Sex … And Gender … And Everything In Between

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A lot of our posts recently have brought light to a problem that is inherent when it comes to identity, especially in terms of gender and sexual orientation. Personally, someone who speaks three languages, I understand the problems we face with languages and the (subconscious) implications they impose in regards to gender identification and the binary they create. That is to say, when I began to learn English and Spanish, ‘he’ and ‘she’ were no different from ‘i’ and ‘they’ and I had not understood the complications of gendering my languages. I had not considered the implications of separating nouns into masculine or feminine identities in the Spanish language and what that might suggest in terms of defining stereotypes and binary identities in society.

 Thus, when the problems of language and their forceful impositions on identity and gender politics were introduced to me, I was proud to say that the language I spoke at home was gender neutral. It felt like I was participating in some sort of revolutionary change towards gender neutrality by starting with myself, and coincidently enough my roots gave way to this change.

 In Tagalog, we do not use he/she but rather epicene pronouns that do not imply or suggest the gender/sex of a person. For a while, it was something I was proud of. Coming from a predominantly Christian/Catholic country with repressive and conservative ideals that adhere to traditions informed by the machismo ideology, the gender neutrality of my mother tongue became a source of comfort and light of progression for a home that I so wished would be more open to awareness and change. However, in regards to describing one’s gender and sexual orientation in the Philippines, vocabulary is the first of the problems I’ve recently realized in the last few days. 

Basically, the LGBT*Q community is categorized into two groups. In the Philippines we have bakla and tomboy. Growing up and hearing these terms in conversation, I had naturally assumed that they were merely slang for what we would call gay and lesbian in English. I understood that they were derogatory and informal, but they were culture. Looking into the trans community in the Philippines, I realized that bakla and tomboy were more like umbrella terms that encompassed individuals who did not identify as heterosexual and cissexual. Bakla was not ‘gay’ when translated into English as I had thought. Instead, it covered all individuals who identified as female and chose to embody the socially constructed norms of what femininity meant. The same concept applied to tomboy. As arbitrary and silly as it sounds as I type this right now, coming to terms with this newfound information made me rethink the language I had thought to be so progressive. 

 Although gender neutral in nature, the language still proved to be problematic in the politics of identity and gender. It created a binary that was based off social constructs of masculinity and femininity just as we do when we say ‘he’ or ‘she’, or restrict sexual orientation to simply being either ‘gay’ or ‘straight’. It imposes the notion of ‘passing’ on the individual and characteristics that constructed what it meant to be ‘this’ and not ‘that’.

They are simply two words, but they were two words that were enough to trigger questions and rethink my own conceptions of identity and the self. As naive as it sounds, as a mechanism in politics and history, the identity of a subject by relating itself to what it is not has always existed, without the blatant imposition of a binary of orientation. Why is it so necessary to categorize ourselves under these dual notions, and by whose standards are we constructing these binaries? When did we begin the necessity to finish the sentence I AM ________ with preconceived notions and ideas we don’t really understand? I wonder if anyone can fully explain to me what it means to be a girl, a woman, a lady, because from what I’ve heard, although supposedly synonymous, all three mean different things. Why does it have to become more complicated than simply “I am.” or “You are.” because at the end of the day when it comes down to it, that’s all there is. To be. 

 

Open Letter to Steubenville Rape Victim

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http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/03/23/my-open-letter-to-the-steubenville-survivor/

Just wanted to share this with you guys. It’s in regards to the Steubenville case that has been discussed recently in the news. It’s really about time someone has made a public and open statement addressing the survivor rather than the assaulters. After all the disturbing news coverage this case has gotten thus far, I felt really happy and relieved to see this video.

What Defines A Women?

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                A transgender female, Calliope Wong, was rejected from Smith College because her government financial aid document is registered as a male. Smith College is a liberal arts college only for women, supporting women’s education. After receiving her rejection letter Calliope Wong conducted further research into the transgender policies of Smith’s College. Her findings were that a transgender applicant will not be under the same consideration no matter how successful they were academically or how wonderful their personality is. It states that the candidate will probably not be considered for admission at all. Smith’s policies  on gender identity are very vague.  This makes you start to wonder what their criteria for a woman actually is. How can you even  truly identify what a women is just based on their biological appearance? Surely there are many women who do not feel like women at all. So now would they still be women?

                Calliope Wong was not going to take her rejection sitting down, she has been writing about her situation on her blog. Also, she was interviewed by the Huffington Post on the injustices she is facing. She had said that she is not only fighting for her equal rights and not to be limited by gender identity but for others after her so they do not have to fight. For Calliope to be accepted she would have to have surgery which would then lead to her official gender identity to change.

                In her blog, Calliope brings up excellent points discussing how enormous of a decision it is for a young adult to choose to undergo surgery and that many who are at the college application age are not ready to make that kind of decision. As well, she argues how expensive surgery is and how some do not feel the need to undergo surgery. You know who could blame them, you may look different from how you feel and that is ok, no one should have to change their body to match their identity. These options are solely the person’s choice, everyone should have full control over what happens to their body. No one should be able to say just because they do not look like a ‘standard’ women or ‘standard’ man that they are not a women or man at heart. In the heart is where it matters the most in my opinion.   

                Calliope Wong has received quite the backing, with supporters on Facebook, and tumblr. As well, many women have been taking pictures of themselves posing around signs that are supporting Calliope Wong. These photos can be found all over the internet or on the link below.

                This case is similar to the Womyn’s Festival where there policy is “womyn born womyn” which is limiting because this alienates the entire transgender community. It makes it hard for transgender or transsexual people to find a place of acceptance, not everyone will have a place where they are completely accepted  for who they are. This does not mean that every transgender or transsexual person has no place where they are accepted, they are just not accepted everywhere or by everyone.

This article was found on http://www.buzzfeed.com/skarlan/smith-college-rejects-female-transgender-student

Jazz

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On the topic of the transgender community, here is a video I was dying to share with you all.

ABC news did a segment on a male to female transgendered child, at the age of only 11. Her name is Jazz and she does what most of the world fails to do – sees being transgender as a positive thing. She is truly an inspiration, to not only the transgender community, but to the world. She is a living display that you can and you should love who you are no matter what anyone has to say about it. I couldn’t help but fall in love with this girl and her amazing outlook on life. Though she knows she will endure hardships in life because of her situation, she does not back down and confronts each problem with a brave face. It is simple to her – she has a girl brain but a boy body, and there is nothing wrong with that. Jazz sees this as something that makes her special and for that, I think she is exceptional.

Jazz is also extremely lucky to have supporting family and friends who fight for a life of equality for her. She and her family are a step forward to ending negative stigma surrounding transgendered people.

One part of the video that really stuck with me was when Barbara Walters asked her older sister what her thoughts were on Jazz’s situation and she claims it is a “disorder”. Like Jazz, I do not like this word. By saying that being transgendered means one is suffering from a disorder makes it seem as though there is something wrong with them and they need to be fixed. However, watching this vibrant, energetic, young girl it is clear that she is perfect, happy and there is no part of her that needs to be fixed.

If you were interested in knowing more about this young inspiration, just as I was, here is a documentary giving a closer look at Jazz and her life.

Law and Transgender

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While laws are the cornerstone of government it is society that holds the candle towards views. But the government has a lot of influence about who is able to do what. The bible says it’s a sin to ‘eat pork’ and people follow that religiously, this can be paralleled to government laws. Most of the time when laws were put in place yeah they made sense but we have to look at today’s time and place and see if the law still applies. Pork is okay to eat now because we have fridges. Increasingly it is becoming acceptable to be transgender and having laws that support the issue will help to turn the rest of the haters.

Transgender rights and laws differ throughout the world. Last summer Cuba had its first transgender wedding. Although same-sex marriage is not allowed in Cuba the couple’s marriage did not break the law because the bride had undergone surgery to become a woman. She was the country’s first state sanctioned sex change operation. On one hand this can viewed as a step forward for Cuba for accepting transgender people but their laws are still lacking in rights towards gay rights. The most prominent activist for gay rights is Mariela Castro, Fidel Castro’s niece. Many people are not accepting of change so slowly transforming the system and the attitudes is the way to go.

 In Japan transgender is recognized as a medical condition not as a mental disorder but as a condition that must be treated through transitioning. In Japan the transgender movement was able to gain acceptance. Transgendered people can legally change their names and their gender markers. Increasingly in Japan there are public figures and not just in the entertainment industry but also in politics. They have an accepting society which makes it a safe environment for transgender people. Japanese society has been able to accept transgendered people but unfortunately this has not always been the case in Canada.

Recently on March 20th, the government made it illegal to discriminate against transgender Canadians. But prior to that MP Rob Anders held a petition questioning the legitimacy of the bill. Anders claimed that “[his] constituents feel that it is the duty of the House of Commons to protect and safeguard our children from any exposure and harm that would come from giving a man access to women’s public washroom facilities”. The Tory MPs suggest that a girl will receive trauma finding a man in the girls’ bathroom. Their only argument is that sexual predators will have access to the bathrooms. They really have no idea what they are talking about. This kind of talk frustrates me the amount of ignorance that is present in our government. Consequently it was Prime Minister Harper and most of the front bench that opposed the bill. Those people are on the forefront of Canadian politics they are representing us on a global scale.

The view that society takes is partly influenced by the government and the media. When the government doesn’t accept transgender individuals then how can they be expected to listen to other things the people want? Canada prides itself on having marriage equality for everyone; gay rights have seen to been an important part in Canadian identity. Canada is shown as a multicultural; accepting of every race, a mosaic. It seems like a bit of a paradox then that Canada can’t accept transgender people. In the article, Connect the Dots: Transgender Narratives in Pop Culture it outlines that 30% of trans teens will attempt suicide, 55% will be physically assaulted and 90% will report feeling unsafe because of their gender expression. If the Canadian government wants to be respected they must be willing to include everyone. Slowly society is progressing and becoming more accepting. Although laws do not completely change society’s views it can help to sway people. Many people preach ‘it gets better’ but why can’t we change what’s going on now?

The Power of the “I”

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After weeks of “research”, flipping through various young adult books, and putting off this blog entry, I decided to turn to my old friend Virginia Wolfe for inspiration. Often times when we discuss how literature today can be problematic, we try to look in between the lines for a sign of any privilege manifesting itself in the form of subtext or even in some cases, in very explicit descriptions (I’m looking at you Mr. Grey).

While I was conducting my research, I felt myself skimming through countless books and relying on an ending to give me insight or any hint of inspiration to write about the privileged informed problems of young adult literature. What I had failed to realize and acknowledge was the importance of the book, not only in its entirety, but also in its first few pages. Sometimes, a beginning tells us more about the book than we actually recognize, and the subtlety in which this takes place is where our dangerous territory begins. 

Imagine blindly selecting a book that gives no indication of a plot, nor introduction of its characters. You are removing any bias, judgement, or assumptions you may have before indulging in the literature. Read the following paragraph:

It’s the clichés that cause the trouble. A precise emotion seeks a precise expression. If what I feel is not precise then would I call it love? It is so terrifying, love, that all I can do is shove it under a dump bin of pink cuddly toys and send myself a greetings card saying `Congratulations on your Engagement’. But I am not engaged I am deeply distracted. I am desperately looking the other way so that love won’t see me. I want the diluted version, the sloppy language, the insignificant gestures. The saggy armchair of clichés. It’s all right,millions of bottoms have sat here before me. The springs are well worn, the fabric smelly and familiar. I don’t have to be frightened, look, my grandma and grandad did it, he in stiff collar and club tie, she in white muslin straining a little at the life beneath. They did it, my parents did it, now I will do it won’t I, arms outstretched, not to hold you, just to keep my balance, sleepwalking to that armchair. How happy we will be. How happy everyone will be. And they all lived happily ever after. (Written by Jeanette Winterson, Written on The Body)

Without using our dear friend Google, what would you be able to tell me about our narrator? Without beating around the bush, I’ll just ask, was our narrator a girl or a boy, or do you care whether or not our speaker is genderless? In the end, should we care about the face that lies behind the “I” in our stories?

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Unfortunate spoiler alert: I don’t know if our narrator was a boy or a girl. Winterson wrote Written on The Body with a gender-neutral and unnamed speaker in my mind. Does that mean that our “I” was faceless after all? Not necessarily. Gender neutrality is often a trope utilized in literature which allows the reader to position themselves as the speaker without the imposition of a certain biases that would be informing of the character/speaker. Most often, it is utilized in stories where the reader makes certain choices to progress the plot. Remember those Goosebumps books where we got to choose our own adventure? It works kind of like that. 

Sometimes we forget the power that a single letter/word holds. “I” is telling of one’s positionality, informed by culture, history, experience, and privilege. So much emphasis is put on description to understand a character that we neglect the significance of even the most minimalistic pieces. In neglecting what even the minimalistic can tell us, we fail to acknowledge how even the shortest of words can be telling of gender/societal norms at work even as we read the passage in front of us. 

The power of the “I” not only lies in its ability to be telling of one’s positionality and the subtextual implications that come with it. Perhaps this sounds like a stretch, but the “I” is often an indicator of how male privilege comes as an invisible norm and given in our society. Although Wolfe had made reference to it a long time ago, the implications of the invisible “I” are still the same. 

Take the Hunger Games for example. Had you not been given a name, nor any hint of the District 12’s tribute from the Seam, would you have guessed that the bow-wielding protagonist was a girl? For all we know, Peeta could have been professing his love for a certain grey-eyed, black-haired boy. And no, I’m not making reference to any Pale/Geeta story lines. That makes for another blog post. I digress, my point being or well, as I reiterate, the “I”, often unbeknownst to the reader, contributes an entirety of perspective to the book that we often fail to consider. 

Realizing the infinite power that “I” holds, makes me question or perhaps strengthen my belief in the power of difference and its contribution to understanding the individual even more. If I scribbled this seemingly insignificant letter on this desk, would it tell its next occupier about all that intersections that amalgamated to define me? I’ll end this post on a sentimental note. Who knew that “I” was the story I needed to finally write for the month?

 

Offensive Words Losing Their Meaning

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I have  recently watched the movie Django Unchained, which although it has had good ratings there has been a lot controversy surrounding the frequent use  of the n-word.  It is used so often that some people are refusing to see the movie. This made me think about the overuse of the n-word in music. There is even a music group with it in there name, n.w.a which stands for n-word with attitude (I am sorry I cannot even write it without feeling like I am being offensive).  It is used so  frequently in rap music and now in movies that it seems like it is becoming less offensive and no longer inappropriate or racist. Personally I do not like the use of it at all, not even in rap music or movies. It makes me very uncomfortable because of the history behind it. It is not a casual word that can be thrown around as if it was a common conversational word. I understand that when making a movie that takes part in the time of slavery or segregation, it does make it more historically accurate to use it. I think the seriousness of the word needs to be established again and people should refrain from using it. This is just a little something to think about that I have been thinking about recently. I just feel like this is making people think that they can use it and it is promoting racist terms.

The Mortal ‘Ism’s

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Hi, my name is Beautybutnobeast and I am/was a Twihard. Twilight was one of my favourite books for a long time. When Jane deconstructed it in class my heart was a little crushed. I had always kind of known that Bella and Edward had a strange relationship but to hear it academically validated? This got me thinking about the current book series I am fixated on, The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare. At first I thought of course MY series won’t be bad at all like Twilight but I thought again. For anyone who hasn’t read the series I’ll give a short synopsis.

Book 1: City of Bones

Clary witnesses a murder by three teenagers covered in strange tattoos using bizarre weapons but the body seems to disappear in mid-air and she was the only one who witnessed it. Clary’s mother is kidnapped and the people who can help her are those murderers, they are called Shadowhunters. Shadowhunters are a secret group of warriors dedicated to getting rid of demons on Earth. Clary is able to see all of the magic the world has to offer. Essentially Clary falls in love with one of the Shadowhunters, Jace Wayland with a mysterious past. The Shadowhunters work to help Clary get her mother back and surprise Clary has Shadowhunter blood! Only her mother hid the secret from her. Then whoa Jace turns out to be Clary’s brother even though they are madly in love.

Book 2: City of Ashes

Clary finds out her mother has been kidnapped by her father (whom she didn’t know was her father) the most evil Shadowhunter ever, Valentine. The relationship between Clary and Jace continues to grow but Clary’s best friend Simon also proclaims his love for her. Clary is stuck in a love triangle.

Book 2: City of Glass

Clary meets a guy named Sebastian Verlac who pretends to be nice but is actually an evil mastermind, and the son of Valentine (aka Clary’s real brother). Plot twist Jace isn’t Clary’s brother so now they can be together! Clary with the help of the Shadowhunters is able to save her mom.

Although the premise of the book is mainly about saving Clary’s mother she gets herself intertwined in some messy bits of romance. Like Snowwhitewithoutthehuntsman mentioned love triangles seem to be a prevailing thing in most young adult novels. When Clary finds herself in this love triangle she could either go for the strong, beautiful warrior Jace or safe, best friend, geeky Simon. Even though throughout the books Clary is led to believe that Jace is her brother she still can’t help falling for him. Clary falls in love with the more masculine of the two. In the book Simon is clumsy and isn’t considered a ‘real’ man until he becomes a powerful vampire. When Simon becomes a vampire he attracts much more attention from women because of his increased beauty. Hodge Starkweather has a limp from a deformed leg and he ends up betraying Clary and her friends and he joins evil Valentine. The only character with a disability ends up being evil. This promotes able-bodiedness and suggests that people with disabilities end up evil.

Even issues of race are discussed in this book. Many Shadowhunters believe themselves to be far superior to the Downworlders who consist of Vampires, Faeries, Werewolves and Warlocks. Shadowhunters have a ‘White Man Superior Complex’ they are always trying to help the Downworlders. Both Shadowhunters and Downworlders are half human but Shadowhunters are half angel while Downworlders are half demon. This is where the Shadowhunters see the Downworlders as savage and evil. Orientalism comes into play because Downworlders are frequently stereotyped. Vampires in the series were mostly Hispanic while Werewolves were black. Vampires are all seen as ‘bloodsuckers’ while Werewolves are stereotyped as ‘dogs’. These stereotypes are what perpetuates the violent feud between these rival groups. The one Asian character is a warlock with cat eyes named Magnus Bane. Magnus fills the Orientalist stereotype of being exotic and mysterious.

Even if Mortal Instruments has its flaws I will still read it. Sure there is ableism, sexism and racism but I figure once it’s been acknowledged then it’s okay. ‘Ism’s are dangerous if they aren’t noticed and acknowledged but is it still okay to consume media that displays this?

-beautybutnobeast