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So I stand behind gay rights, I am happy to work with transgendered people, and I participate in causes side by side with the LGBT community. One of the things that I've been hearing about lately, though, is the genderqueer movement. I am really confused about this--please just hear me out before you cast judgment on me:
1. What is genderqueer? I've heard definitions about it meaning that there is no defined gender for that person. Sociologically, this makes no sense. We play into our gender roles as early as we know about them. As people grow older, they may decide that they identify themselves as the opposite sex more than their own, and they may seek operations or hormones or other methods to make their outside match their inside. I completely understand that because it still adheres to the gender roles that are always in/will always be in place. There is a sociological force of gender in our society that we cannot escape, but I guess the genderqueer movement may be trying to deconstruct that.
2. Can we deconstruct sociological values of gender? One may say, that by being homosexual, that gender roles are denied, but I would have to disagree. No matter how gay a man is, he is still a man as defined by our society. If it walks like a man, talks like a man, it is a man. This is the same argument for transgendered/transexual people, if he now walks like a woman, and talks like a woman, she is a woman. Transgendered/transexual people don't become "it," they assume the opposite gender role. I feel like people who assume a genderqueer label superficially "other" themselves. They're not really fighting against the sociological values of gender because they still adhere to them. Instead, they just give themselves new labels.
3. Does gender-neutral labeling put genders at an equal level? I do not think so. Even if one is not verbally labeled as a he or she, he is still physically labeled. Everyone still can recognize his "true" gender. One could take the path of neutrality of labeling but still have opportunities in life only dependent on their man- or woman-ness. Even if you don't identify as a woman, you are still a woman. Are you going to stop fighting for feminist causes because you "aren't a woman" anymore? I don't get it.
4. Is it a good idea to remove gender as a boundary for people? Yes, in theory. The problem from the genderqueer movement, imo, is that it is middle-to-upper-class white kids making themselves into a minority. Why give yourself a completely superficial and alienating construction while performing the same gendered behaviors you always have?
I think it's BS. Someone please tell me why it's not.
