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Gender can be a pretty tricky thing to define. Part biology, part social construction, part culture....there is a lot that goes into it.
But what does it mean for you to be whatever/however you define your gender? What does it mean for you to be a woman? A man? Genderqueer? Any other gender with which you may identify?
How do you come to your own definition and construct that for yourself?
I identify as male, but think that I've constructed my own ideas about masculinity and what it involves or does not involve. I strongly identify as feminist (which isn't a gender but maybe it should be!). I think about how I learned "male" to be and disagree with a lot of it, and find myself involved with deconstructing and reconstructing maleness for myself so that it feels more home-y.
Posts: 384 | From: Philadelphia, PA | Registered: Sep 2008
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quote:Originally posted by CJT: I think about how I learned "male" to be and disagree with a lot of it, and find myself involved with deconstructing and reconstructing maleness for myself so that it feels more home-y.
Really well put! I'm often not sure what it means to be ___, but I'm a big advocate of understanding that your relationship with identity categories is a personal one, and that that relationship is a fluid one.
On a related note, I am also male, but have always been hesistant with identifying as 'a feminist' - as I'm not sure, from an activist/political perspective, that it is entirely appropriate. I tend to use profeminist as a term which shows where I'm coming from while recognizing my gender privilege. But like I said, I'm occasionally conflicted about this.
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Well, I realize how practical it is - at least for statistical purposes - to label myself.
But, really, I'm just myself.
I might be male because I have been raised as a boy: society expects me to do this and wear that, to say this and be that, and I conformed as I feel more or less comfortable being a man. I might as well be a feminist, as many of my friends are, and as I am well aware of the gender privilege and cisgender privilege I have.
However, I'm not a full-time XY-er. Sometimes, I'm just Idir.
-------------------- I know there is an over the rainbow for me. Posts: 84 | From: Algeria | Registered: Nov 2008
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