Comments | mostlyfoo: The "standard" model (for gender)

mostlyfoo

The "standard" model (for gender)

Jan 09, 2013 16:56

Okay, I thought I should post this summary, its hardly going to be exact because I'm not brilliantly read in the area (I've picked it up piecemeal from reading the odd theory or activist book), but its got some useful concepts in that are handy for discussion (oh and yeah, I'm aware that a lot of these areas can overlap quite happily :) My view of ( Read more... )

waffle, gender

Comments 14

bodybag_pilgrim January 9 2013, 17:33:57 UTC

The one thing I'd suggest is switching instances of 'normal' to 'typical' - in areas like this I get antsy about defining the most common as 'normal' as 'abnormal' carries negative connotation.

mostlyfoo January 9 2013, 17:35:19 UTC

Argh, normative fail from me. Good point well made and fixes done.

mr_jez January 14 2013, 03:07:39 UTC

I think this presentation is missing descriptions of 'masculine' and 'feminine'. Fancy having a crack at it?

mostlyfoo January 14 2013, 14:48:07 UTC

That's more than slightly on purpose I think :) Being as people have been arguing about how to best define such things for... er... at least a few thousand years I hardly think I can sum it up being as I don't really understand it myself. I tried to leave a comment but I think its big enough to turn into an entry.

mostlyfoo January 14 2013, 15:26:49 UTC

And here you go

one waffley entry

mr_jez January 15 2013, 01:21:39 UTC

I'll go and have a look! ... :o)

Thread 8

impysh January 15 2013, 20:49:40 UTC

So, a little late here, but you may find this article on gender interesting - it is arguing against the idea of 'abolishing gender' by framing it as a colonising impulse. Along the way it goes through a quite nice explanation of gender as an epistemology- a way of knowing - and refers to different gendered divisions, such as hijra and two-spirit.

http://boldlygo.co/gender-abolition-as-colonisation/

mr_jez January 16 2013, 00:43:18 UTC

Interesting, thanks. I don't really see gender as something that can be imposed or abolished, just a construct (or perhaps a range of related constructs) that some folk find appealing, useful and/or necessary to their journey; an epistemology in the sense that it is an orientation in relation to experience.

mostlyfoo January 21 2013, 14:39:35 UTC

I'm not really sure its only a few people :)

mostlyfoo January 21 2013, 14:38:56 UTC

Indeed, I occasionally see it argued as a "We should totally abolish gender rarrrgh!" but personally I agree with the paragraph towards the end of that article:

I’m up for hearing other concept of how we can overcome gender as an oppressive force, redefine it, change it, or morph our epistemological understanding of it. But I have a hard time supporting the abolition of gender within all epistemologies and frameworks. I’m not even sure if abolishing gender within a Western epistemology is possible, but working within my own understanding and cultural framework seems a far better approach than attempting to abolish a concept that I not only feel people identify with on a deep level within my own culture, but also exists in so many variant forms within and outside of Western culture, that attempting to abolish it means colonising the world with my understanding of gender first.
Abolishing gender really seems like an impossible task, I mean how would you? And why would you? It seems like saying "Well this concept doesn't work for me, ( ... )