I do not even know how to begin to apologize for my ignorance of my heritage as a gender variant on this planet. Let’s just say my need to learn far exceeds the time I could possibly devote.
Often I just ramble around the blogosphere, sometimes far from Blogistan (our little corner, I guess) to see what else there is to learn. Recently I discovered a blog about intersex, that condition in which an individual is born with ambiguous sexual traits. The site is ‘Intersex and the City’.
We might be aware of the issues the binary sexual stereotype has created from our point of view, however it is becoming clear to me there is much to learn about the world’s rainbow of gender expression and where I stand in it.
It is time to stop now, so that I can return at least a little to a maxim I tried to live by before starting this blog and making that impossible: ‘It is far better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt’.
I hope you check it out and see for yourself. Look around even more, and hopefully let me and everyone else know where else we should be reading and maybe acting to educate and help ourselves.
lol, If you actually want to educate yourself then stay away from the blogs! Gender studies has biological, sociological and psychological components. The best sources of information incorporates all of them. I found the work of Anne Fausto-Sterling a fascinating place to learn about the intricacies of sex determination. And Milton Diamond's theories seem to have withstood the test of time better than most.
ReplyDeleteI suppose my personal experience of having learned virtually nothing from the 'experts' and almost everything I needed to know from bloggers about my own gender variance may not carry over into other areas. Can't hurt to try anyway. Thanks for the suggestions Sophie.
ReplyDeleteThere are actually dozens of intersex conditions of various kinds. Not all manifest themselves as ambiguous genitalia. I've read a little in that area, but not a lot. There's a lot to learn!
ReplyDeleteAs for binaries, I wonder if people muddle sexual dimorphism and gender expression. Intersex conditions are the exception. Otherwise, most people are born with male or female parts. No stereotype there.
But then people talk about the "gender binary," and I think that died a long time ago. Some do insist that boys "act like boys" and girls "act like girls," but in reality, gender expression is all over the map.
Thanks for the link, Halle. I do have an interest in intersex and I do intend to get tested for 47XXY Mosaic. I have been following these two sites for a few years now:
ReplyDeleteBodies Like Ours
Intersex News
Calie xxx