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Home of the Hop with links to all the other Hoppers... yeah, baby, we're rocking this theme until Sunday!
Yesterday I addressed Homophobia... my take on what it means and what I'd like to do--what I've done about it. Today I'm talking about Transphobia. This issue, the desire to fight against it, to see it wiped from the face of the earth lives right next to my heart. Makes it hard to breathe some days. I found this clip of Andre Pejic over on Tara Lain's blog, and I thought--OMFrackingG, this is PERFECT. He says exactly what I wish the whole world could say and mean, and does so with a grace and charm most of us only dream of achieving. Enjoy.
Gender doesn't make me who I am...
Ah, if the world at large could think this way, what a different place this earth would be.
And really, at the end of the day, what does it mean to be a woman, or to be a man? No, I'm not being flippant here, I'm asking a serious question. I know what it means to be Cherie. I know what it means to be a sister and a mother and (more often than not) a father. I know how it hurts my brother when the teller at the bank gets hung up on his legal name and repeatedly calls him by the wrong pronoun.
So if we lived in a world where it just didn't matter... perhaps people wouldn't make assumptions. Perhaps they would wait to see what was inside the gift-wrapping of flesh. Perhaps boys who got wrapped in pink paper and girls who got wrapped in blue wouldn't hurt with every breath they take.
Today, just today, try to walk through the world like a child. Pretend you've never seen a leaf unfurl in the spring. Pretend you have no preconceptions about who the person looking at you from out of your mirror is, and no way of knowing who the other looking back at you as you pass them in the street is until you get close enough to see what lives behind the blue, brown, green, gray or lavender of their eyes.
Try.
Just try, and see if maybe, you learn something new about you.
I double dog dare you.
Oh wow but he talks a lot of sense! We are entirely too hung up on the notion of gender and gender stereotypes.
ReplyDeleteHopefully one day it won't matter so much...
I love Andre Pejic. I want him to have my babies.
ReplyDeleteWe'd figure it out. LOL.
Thanks for the post Big Sis.
One of the things I always prefer is if someone just things of each other as a person, not a gender, not a sexuality, not a race, or any other such thing. Nothing more than another person, another human. It makes more more compassion and empathy.
ReplyDeleteI think it takes more education also, in understanding about transgender people, and similarly intergender people. I wrote an article specifically about that after a curious discussion online. Speaking up matters, but also the way in which we do so.
As Andre says, for those of us who often get mistaken for another gender, or have assumptions and mislabels assigned to us, we perhaps more readily can see how gender stereotypes is hurting everyone, just not trans, inters and androgynes.
http://redhaircrow.com/2012/04/05/the-inter-transgender-question-in-glbt-communities-photos/
Red, thank you so much for leaving the link to your post. It's an amazing post and states so clearly, and more in depth than I managed here. Kisses and hugs to you!
DeleteThat was a great video. I love Andre Pejic. He is stunning in more than just his outward appearance. I live with a child who has shown me everything you mention. Spawn teaches me more every day just by being himself - friendly, open, and not concerned about gender, appearance,or disability.
ReplyDeleteYou know you're the one who taught me to love Andre, right? Thank you. No, really, *thank* *you*...
DeleteThanks for the post, Cherie. The world definitely needs to discard their prejudice and seeing everything in new light.
ReplyDeleteI showed a bunch of these post to the teens in my family to show them how hurt some "innocent" remarks are to many others. I get so annoyed when my nephew says "you're so gay". ERRRR drove me crazy. I know he didn't mean anything by it but it is so wrong to use that as a saying. I think that these post have helped. Thank you all for sharing with us!
ReplyDeleteforettarose@yahoo.com
Excellent post and terrific video link--thank you for sharing it with us!
ReplyDelete