Gender: The Social Attempt to "Order" a Society and Limit Human Expression

photo found here

Over at "A Place for Everywomon" gender is discussed and dissected. Gender is one of those concepts that interest the hell out of everyone and yet it only exists socially. Gender is not innate, it does not provide human beings with a particular "essence" nor does it have many liberating properties. Gender tends to restrict human expression by rendering all human expression to be either "masculine" or "feminine" - but never "human." Our obessession with gendering people, animals, objects and ideas stems from our long history of labelling, catagorizing and attempting to "order" our societies.Non-historically speaking, gender has become something you "do" or  even "fuck" in many Western, liberal academic schools of thought.

If you feel oppressed by the restrictive binary system, no sweat! You can just "fuck" it away - which is when you adorn yourself in cultural products (such as "men's" or "women's" clothing) and claim a "fucking" of the gender binary. This brief, easily-maneuvered purchasing of cultural products can somehow erase or obliterate previous social connotations attached to one's "gender." In reality,  "fucking" or "dismantling" a binary merely acknowledges that binary's existence. This is not revolutionary. Gender is not revolutionary. When we focus on pigeonholing humans based on criteria set up by the heteronormative patriarchal and capitalist institutions, we focus on limiting human worth and human expression. Some academic circles get caught up in labeling because they do not deal with the real-world implications. The academic circles are protected from those implications. Around the world, being labeled a "woman" can have harsh and real consequences. Do the academic circles suggest that those women should just go out clubbing with their pals and try to "genderfuck" just because it's "liberating" and "fun"? I doubt it.

As a young girl-child, I can recall the first time gender affected my life. I was playing outside with two boy-child friends. It was a hot day and so I took my shirt off when they took off theirs. I was only about seven years old at the time and so I saw nothing alarming about the act. After coming inside, however, I realized I had done something "wrong" - I was told that "little girls did not take off their shirts." That day, the gender that was forced upon me by society actually had some real-life implications for me, albeit minor. Confusion is the main emotion that I experienced that day. "Why can't I take my shirt off, the boys get to!" I objected. My mother reminded me that girls just "don't" do that. That's all I needed to hear, apparently. This social rule based on my perceived and socially-given gender remains significant in my life. I am still restricted from activities (like removing my shirt on a hot day or having my personal boundaries respected) based on this gender construction that was thrown at me by the patriarchy. Now, my mother is not guilty here, she merely was regurgitating her ideas that were thrown at her at an early age. She, like me, was described as a "tomboy" growing up. I was a "tomboy" because I didn't like pink clothes, princess toys and wearing my hair up. All of these cultural and social concepts (like pink clothes and material goods) were used as reminders of my "place" as a girl-child.

photo from here

Did I want to have a "gender" growing up? Doubtful. I was pretty content doing kid stuff and being a kid, not a girl-kid, or a young lady. I just wanted to be treated like a human being - not a blank cultural canvas for the patriarchy to paint. Patriarchy, however, knows no limits - it will infilitrate a child's life the moment they are born. We are not just babies or children, we're limited to two fixed catagories based on superficial and restrictive attributes that are said to be "innate" or "natural"

This idea that gender is a biological reality sustains its power in society.

There is not an innateness or naturalness to gender - human beings are fluid, multi-faceted and likely undefinable on a global scale. Gender is maintained by the patriarchal capitalist system as a way to "order" a society, to control the way humans express themselves and the way humans interact with each other. The concept of gender, of being either a "man" or a "woman" is not empowering nor liberating. It is our shackles; the ropes that tie our hands behind our back, tape our mouths shut and blindfold us from the rest of the world.  Gender has no place in a world based on humanity, egalitarianism and peace.