Quote:
Originally posted by
Gracefire
I don't think it's gender that needs to be gotten rid of as much as gender roles. Gender is a very real and important part of peoples' identities - it's when people expect certain genders to fulfill certain roles that things get
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I don't think it's gender that needs to be gotten rid of as much as gender roles. Gender is a very real and important part of peoples' identities - it's when people expect certain genders to fulfill certain roles that things get tricky.
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Bingo! i have no problem being labeled as a woman. i have lots of labels! i'm ok with that. They're important for how we see ourselves and how we interact with others. i feel nice and cozy in my labels. Once in a while someone will come along and try to tack on a label that i don't feel fits and that hurts and feels violating and unfair so this is something we have to be careful with. Others try to label us based on their expectations: because you are A, then you must also be B. Wrong. This is sometimes much more hurtful than anyone realizes. Even something as simple as: Because you are a woman, you must like pink, can be a violation.
What needs to be eliminated from our society are these kinds of expectations and roles that people are supposed to fit into just because of their gender. Eliminating these roles might alleviate some dysphoria for a lot of folks who don't feel quite at home in their natural gender. Many people fight these gender stereotypes, roles and expectations their entire lives and it can cause a major identity crisis.
The other issue with gender in our society is how limited our view of it is. Male and Female is really far too narrow a view.
We also need to work on understanding, as a society, that gender, biological sex, and anatomy don't always match the way we expect them to. Men with vaginas, women with penises, women without breasts, intersex, nongendered, nonbinary, genderqueer, genderfluid, and myriad other identities that don't fit into the dichotomy are possible but largely unrecognized and misunderstood.