Friday Five: Gender

[vvvexation]

From the altfriday5:

1. What gender do you consider yourself? Er...uh...sorta-kinda-female?

2. Is this the gender you were assigned at birth? Without the modifiers, yes.

3. Do you like being your current gender? Why or why not?
I guess I'm pretty indifferent to it. I can't think of anything I really really like about it, but there isn't much I hugely dislike about it either--or maybe it's just that the things I do like and dislike are mostly not simple enough to be solely gender-related.

4. If you could change one thing about how society perceives/constructs your gender, what would it be? (don't go nuts here, I know the response to this could make for several doctoral theses)
If I could change one thing, I'd make gender distinctions completely irrelevant. Anything less sweeping than that, and I'd never be able to pick just one thing.

5. Everyone gets their ideas of what it means to be "a man" or "a woman" from somewhere (parents, movies, magazines, books). What was the single biggest influence on your gender identity?
Can't think of one. I mean, it's tough to point out just where I got my idea of "what it means to be a woman" when I can't recall ever having cared much about that question. I did get some rather warped ideas of what it meant to be an attractive woman, though, from growing up seventy miles from Hollywood, though I'm not sure how much of that was in fact universal teenage crap. Hell, UCB doesn't seem much better; walking around campus, I'm the only female undergrad I ever see who isn't wearing stereotypically feminine clothing, if not outright skank-wear. It depresses the fuck out of me sometimes.

Comments

[somebodyelse.livejournal.com]

mmm... yes. down with skank-wear. I don't know whether it's just the current fashions of the last few years, or just fashion in general, but I've come close to being physically sick at times, looking at some of the undergrad girls around me.

[vvvexation.livejournal.com]

Thing is, I worry that I have a hair trigger on that topic--that I'm just curmudgeonly or something. I mean, I don't wanna be sex-negative, and there's no rational reason people shouldn't wear what they want...but skankitude still depresses me, even if I'm not sure where to draw the line as to what constitutes it.

[secretagentmoof]

I think the friday five people are confusing sex and gender.

[vvvexation.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. I think they're making at least some attempt to distinguish between 'em--but perhaps I should ask you to clarify how you define the distinction.

[jen92373.livejournal.com]

Personally I love being female. There is a lot of power to be had if you know what you are doing(remember 'small blond syndrome'?)Short of the handfull of times I feel I've been discriminated against because of it(which only happen in the military) I very much enjoy being a girl- a tomboy, but still very much a girl. Most guys will do damn near anything if you ask the right way (usually just a smile will do it- my parents didn't spend $3000 on my teeth for nothing)As the owner of a pair of leather shorts I can't really comment on skankitude, except to say that over the years my sense of *appropriateness* for when and where to wear such things has vastly improved. School is no longer one of them(or anywhere else during daylight hours, for that matter0. Although, almost causing a car accident in those things was one hell of an ego boost. As for where I got my ideas about what it means to me a man or woman I don't really know. Personally I think a much better dichotomy is what it means to be an adult or a child. There are very few adults in this world.

[vvvexation.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm not knocking being a girl. Sure, there are advantages--it's just that both sexes have their own, and I suspect I'd be about equally happy with either set. I guess my phrasing suggested that that's not saying much, but I didn't mean it that way. I'd just rather have the best of both worlds.

(Incidentally, my parents seem to've spent $3000 on my teeth for nothing. But I'm with you on the adulthood thing.)

[jen92373.livejournal.com]

I don't remember there being anything wrong with your teeth...hmmmmm. IN any case, yesterday I found myself compelled to compose a "skank evalutation test"


In order to determine if the individual in question is a skank, answer the following questions based on their appearance, outward attitude, ect. A score of 5 or more qualifies as a skank. WIth the exception of question 3(where both qualifications must be met for a 'no')award points if any part of the condition applies.

1)Does the individual in question have the body to wear the outfit in question? (4 points)

for example:
-are there rolls of fat sticking out?
-are the cloths so tight they are bunching or pulling?
-is the all over combined shape of body and outfit acceptable, or at least inoffensive?

2)Is the outfit age and place appropriate? (5 points)

for example:
-are they too young to be dressing this way?
-are they too old to be dressing this way?
-assuming this is sa non-intemate situation, are all bathing suit parts satisfactorally covered?
-If this is not a club, are they showing off more then one 'feature'? (Examples- a combination of plunging neckline, plunging back line, exstreamly short, skin tight, ect)

3) Is the outfit free of bra straps, panty lines, nipples or other such things? If not, do you get the sense it is deliberate?(3 points)

4)Is the out fit practical for their current environment? For example, are they at Disneyland wearing 3 inch spike heels? (2 points)

[vvvexation.livejournal.com]

(Braces, three years, bite problems are now worse than before. You witnessed most of this.)

Good one. The age thing is a little hard to judge, but then all the criteria are subjective really, and they still work.

[jen92373.livejournal.com]

*sigh* THis is irritating. We were inseperable for YEARS, and I can not call up an image of you with braces. I remember lots of other things- plenty of head snap-shots, no teeth. Some times it really pisses me off that so much of my life is 'filed'. Without a lot of effort, I honestly just can't remember the vast majority of my life. I remember leather shopping with you, the time your dad took me to the commissary with you guys, the rides to school, walking to school, the time we took a walk while I was wearing a crop top, the puppy we found and named Edgar (as in Allan Poe), that Halloween Party where we met Josh, Yes We're Strange, the time I convinced/bullied you into dying your hair a darker brown (I still think you should of gotten the permanent stuff- it looked fantastic), full contact monopoly...no braces. Although, it's amazing what I've found in my head since I've been mentally shuffling through my head-pics of you.

[vvvexation.livejournal.com]

You already remember more than I thought. It's very weird having someone on LJ who knew me when.

Fashion and femininity

[(Anonymous)]

You might enjoy this column:

http://www.insidebayarea.com/bayarealiving/ci_2729872

-Sumana

Re: Fashion and femininity

[vvvexation.livejournal.com]

I suspect that's where I've been for a while, although I'm only lately developing a personal style that isn't mostly jeans and t-shirts. Thing is, I like to look good (by my own standards), but it still kinda bothers me to be surrounded by people whose standards are markedly different.