IS GENDER "FLUID"? SHOULD IT BE?

[HairOfTheDog]

Geena Rocero ^ is an activist, a model, and the Founder of Gender Proud, a movement that aims to change the global perception of and conversation about transgender individuals.

She wrote this piece featured on CNN this morning.

Snip:
Monday is International Transgender Day of Visibility, and the day I have chosen to "come out" as transgender.

We are all assigned a gender at birth. Sometimes that assignment doesn't match our inner truth, and there needs to be a new place -- a place for self-identification.

I was not born a boy, I was assigned boy at birth. Understanding the difference between the two is crucial to our culture and society moving forward in in the way we treat -- and talk about -- transgender individuals.

Growing up the Philippines, I was involved in transgender beauty pageants from the age of 15. In Asian cultures, the fluidity of gender has been part of life for thousands of years, evidenced by the Buddhist Goddess of compassion, GuanYin and the Hindu hijra Goddess, Bahuchara Mata, who is sacred to men who want to be cured of impotence, and to women wanting to become pregnant.

Yet despite this nuanced understanding, and despite the pageant culture I grew up in, in many countries, fluidity is celebrated but not politically recognized.

A personal turning point came in 2005, a year before I became a U.S. citizen, when I was traveling through Tokyo. Back then, I still had my Philippines passport and my former male gender marker, but I presented as a woman. I was taken into the immigration office at the airport and questioned for hours about my identity. I have friends in the Philippines -- where there is no law that allows them to change their name and marker -- that have these experiences every time they travel. It's dehumanizing.

When I first moved to the United States to work as a model, and I finally had the opportunity to change my name and gender marker, I felt as though my outside self finally matched my inner truth. I really felt like I'd made it but, over time, I realized that there's a lot of work that needs to be done and that I was only just beginning.

Today I am launching Gender Proud, which envisions a world where transgender individuals are able to self-identify with the fewest possible barriers.

In most of the Western world, conceptions of gender remain very rigid, but that exists alongside progressive legal systems that afford transgender individuals some limited rights.

There are varying differences of understanding between Eastern and Western cultures, and I hope Gender Proud can create a new understanding. We are partnering with All Out to identify countries where legislation is at a "tipping point," and we plan to funnel resources to on-the-ground activists and organizations working to create change.

I believe that a more mature and in-depth contemplation of the subject of transgender will be the bridge that leads humanity to a deeper understanding of gender as a whole. This deeper understanding begins with the realization that we live in a culture that assigned us gender at birth and that the appropriate roles and expectations of our gender are defined by our society and our culture.

In today's globally connected and ever-diversifying world, culture is now more fluid and more flexible than ever -- and so too should be our understanding and perception of gender.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/31/opinion/ro...?hpt=hp_t4
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Are genitals simply external "markers" that should be removed or added-to so that people can switch genders to match what they feel inside?

Would it matter to you if you or your adult child were dating someone great, and then you found out that the person was transgender?

[Duchess]

Beautiful girl.

I think it's true that with some people their brain doesn't match their body.

I would like to think that being transgender wouldn't matter to me if I discovered the guy I was dating had been born a female but I can't answer that for sure, I can only say that I would hope to be tolerant and understanding.

[sally]

I believe some men are born with more female traits and vice versa. If they decide to remove or add genitals it's none of my business, but they should tell the person they are becoming friendly with before anything sexual happens. I wouldn't be understanding at all if I found out the guy I was dating use to be a woman.

"Honey, why does your dick look so odd? Well I was trying to think of a way to tell you this, but it used to be a vagina". I think I'd probably get sick to my stomach.

[Duchess]

"Honey, why does your dick look so odd? Well I was trying to think of a way to tell you this, but it used to be a vagina".

I would be so disappointed to discover a clit size pecker.

[BlueTiki]

In most of the Western world, conceptions of gender remain very rigid, but that exists alongside progressive legal systems that afford transgender individuals some limited rights.

Once you've "identified", (e.g. legal name change, surgery, counseling) or have "come out", shouldn't you lose the right to classify yourself as transgender, along with losing the associated legal protections and other considerations?

[HairOfTheDog]

In most of the Western world, conceptions of gender remain very rigid, but that exists alongside progressive legal systems that afford transgender individuals some limited rights.

Once you've "identified", (e.g. legal name change, surgery, counseling) or have "come out", shouldn't you lose the right to classify yourself as transgender, along with losing the associated legal protections and other considerations?

I don't think there are too many legal protections afforded to transgenders as it stands, but I don't have a lot of knowledge on the subject.

On a federal level, the only protection of which I'm aware is in regards to prosecuting those who target and perpetrate crimes against transgenders under the revised "hate crime" statute.

On the state level, laws protecting transgenders against discrimination when it comes to employment, service, etc...vary widely, as is true with gay rights. Under such legal protections, I don't think it matters whether the transgender person has physically/surgically transformed to match their "inner" gender or not. Rather, the person is legally protected against being discriminated against because he/she is known to have been born with the genitalia of one sex but identifies as the opposite sex. That's my understanding, at least.

Last week, we were discussing the case of a high school teacher here in Yosemite, California who came out to his wife and adult children late in life that he identified as female and is now in the process of becoming physically female. http://mockforums.net/showthread.php?tid=11020

The school, under new laws here, is prohibited from discriminating against the teacher -- so his students will be taught by Karen Scot, formerly Gary Sconce, when Spring Break ends and class resumes on April 22^nd. Should be interesting. Lots of controversy and differences of opinions regarding the case.

[Maggot]

All my life I thought I was born Eskimo. The kids at school made fun of me when I wore my "cluck-clucks" to school and the teachers hated the smell of my seal meat. But I realized that the world was not ready for me when I went to pick up my prom date with my sled and dogs. Her father said "Get outta here you weirdo" I got sent to a camp for realignment by my parents, but still to this day when I hear a a dog howl like a wolf I have a terrible urge to grab my spear and seal mittens.
Then I stop and hang my head looking at my sandals and weep inside.

[crash]

I got sent to a camp for realignment by my parents

You should let User know about the ongoing effects of this. Isn't that what she's doing to her daughter atm?

[Maggot]

I got sent to a camp for realignment by my parents

You should let User know about the ongoing effects of this. Isn't that what she's doing to her daughter atm?

Eskimos dont need boob jobs .......they all have boobs, male & female. Its a quirk that most seldom realize. Everyone would want to be an Eskimo if everyone knew, so ...shhhhhhh!

[crash]

Eskimos dont need boob jobs .......they all have boobs, male & female. Its a quirk that most seldom realize. Everyone would want to be an Eskimo if everyone knew, so ...shhhhhhh!

I was going to google "Eskimo boobs", but refrained for fear of seeing user's daughter, or worse, you..

[Maggot]

Eskimos dont need boob jobs .......they all have boobs, male & female. Its a quirk that most seldom realize. Everyone would want to be an Eskimo if everyone knew, so ...shhhhhhh!

I was going to google "Eskimo boobs", but refrained for fear of seeing user's daughter, or worse, you..

My nipples are hard.

[Duchess]

Woooo. Maggottyboo!

[crash]

My nipples are hard.

[Maggot]

I am LOL hard.