Archive for the 'gender outlawery' Category

hedwig and the angry millimeter

Monday, August 4th, 2008

1 in 1000. That’s how many babies are born in an intersex condition. That’s people who are not clearly male or female. Sometimes it is a chromosomal aberration (XXY); other times, it is a hormonal aberration; in all cases, the human could end up with “mixed” sexual characteristics (ambiguous genitalia or secondary sex characteristics […]

lost in the border

Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008

I’ve always felt a bit… transparent. Ever since I was a kid. Never quite one thing or the other, I slid between the lines. People often told me I was one thing or another (white, child, boy), but it never quite felt like me.
People don’t call me a child anymore, but they’re still always throwing […]

the F-word or bitches got a bad rap

Monday, May 26th, 2008

Feminism (the “F-word”) has nothing to do with man-hating. Forget the rumors and hype, feminism is simply about equal rights and opportunities for women. Sound crazy? Do you think it’s fair that a woman would get paid less for doing the same job that a man would do or that her entire value as a […]

abortion law is about women’s rights

Thursday, May 8th, 2008

It really doesn’t matter if you’re personally pro- or anti-abortion (or entirely neutral); if you believe women are valuable individuals and deserve equal rights, then you need to support the legality of abortion. When abortion is illegal, it makes women into second-class citizens, walking wombs. Men simply don’t have the physical responsibility of a pregnancy […]

musings on the po-lice

Sunday, April 13th, 2008

In the sense of “peacekeeper” (i.e., protecting people from violence), I have the utmost respect for the police - I think it’s a tough and very necessary role to play. In terms of monitoring traffic, I also approve as it appeals to my sense of order and I think most traffic laws are quite sensible […]

MA: it’s not as liberal as you think

Saturday, March 29th, 2008

Early last winter, my dad asked me to do him a favor - his best friend’s son had just moved to the Boston area and he wondered if I could give him a call and maybe show him around (he didn’t know anyone in the area). I groaned internally because I’m a bit of […]

crossdresser clarification

Saturday, December 22nd, 2007

Setting aside for the moment that I don’t really like the term “crossdresser,” I’d like to set something straight about crossdressing. It’s about gender expression, people - gender identity. It is not about sexual orientation or sexuality. I know in most people’s minds, they have very fixed concepts that all relationships are butch-femme (opposites attract […]

feminism & fat: philia vs phobia

Sunday, September 16th, 2007

I’m wading my svelte self into some very murky waters here, but I’ve never been one to shy away from controversy so here goes. The subject of weight, especially the “ideal” weight for women (seemingly to be mandated by everyone and anyone) is fraught with controversy. On the one hand, you have a very fat-phobic […]

staking the pretentious heart of chivalry

Thursday, September 6th, 2007

Women are but flowers, requiring tender care and kindest words. They are a separate species, without which we men might perish, but for which we must be strong and deferential, the proverbial knight in shining armour. This belief system is chivalry and it is the most dangerous type of sexism because the behavior pretends to […]

coming out as androgyne

Friday, August 24th, 2007

How does one “come out” as something that doesn’t exist in most people’s eyes? As something that is a vague “in between” state? Everyone knows that there are men and there are women. That’s it - end of story. I could tell everyone that I’m transsexual, a woman born in a man’s body and […]