Finally publishing something!

Let me start this off by saying I am having a lot of trouble with this blog thing. Not because I don't want to do it, or can't think of what to write but the exact opposite! I have too much I want to write about! Even in the first couple days of class we have covered dozens of topics I couple write pages and pages on. Alas, the tragedy of being verbose and opinionated!

But instead of spending more time scanning through the readings and writing and re-writing opening paragraphs I am just going to do this. Yeah. Let's go!

Doing gender. Okay, I have some fairly strong views on everything! on my own gender identity and gender in general. Some background - I was homeschooled for the second half of my pre-college education, and that combined with living in liberal Massachusetts surrounded me with some very alternative people. I really can't begin to describe these communities. But let me just say that gender norms, as well as 'normal' sexualities and relationships, did not apply.

It was not rare for my guy friends to wear skirts. Sometimes because they were more fun to dance in. Other times because their older sister insisted they looked adorable. Often just because they wanted to. Several of my closest friends consider their gender to be unimportant - although they are biologically one sex or the other, they do not feel a strong identification with the associated gender. My friends are asexual, bisexual, pansexual. Men, women, both or neither.

This was a diversity I took for granted and when I began to expand into "the real world" it was a little but of a culture shock. It was not that I was unaware that all this was completely abnormal. But just the little things -  like the lack of boys and men with long hair - were surprisingly different.

I always was considered one of the more "normal" people in my friend groups - I identified with an "acceptable" gender, I tended to dress and behave in a way that reflected that gender in an "acceptable" way and, comparatively, I didn't stick out from the crowd . Being "normal" in this way was not looked-down upon nor admired - it was just the way I was.

However, in the wider world I feel far from normal. While my gender expression may not come across as outside the norm - I don't identity 100% with what "being a woman" seems to mean. I have a very definite masculine side to my personality that I am proud to have. Whether that masculinity fits into anybody else's definition of masculine doesn't matter. My masculinity sometimes expresses itself in the pair of jeans I chose to wear that day, in the pitch of my voice, or just my energy at that moment.

Alright I have written a lot. I could say much more about my own definition of my femininity and masculinity, but I doubt it would be all that interesting. So in conclusion! My perspective on gender has been strongly shaped by my environment (as everyone's is!) and because of my particular experiences I know there is much more than MAN or WOMAN in every person.

No more! Until next the next novel post,
Sara