On Thursday, October 25, 2007, I observed a presentation by Gavi*, the executive director of a “grassroots educational (nonprofit) organization”** to help transgendered and transsexual people. As there are very few programs that are set up to deal with the diversity of the trans group, Gavi explained that this organization is specifically structured to incorporate all variations in sexuality and gender.
Gavi taught the audience about the physical and mental factors that decide gender, social rules and development, interactions between men and women and more. He explained the feeling of a “sisterhood” among females that as a woman, he experienced and I experience as well: there are often times a glance between women, perhaps when two females are alone late at night at a train station, bus stop, etc., that translates as the message, “I feel safer with you here.” We may not be conscious of this, or (like myself) we may feel physical and emotional relief at the site of another woman waiting by herself. The contact between these two women is very slight, but in that moment the women share a common relief: “With you here, I am less afraid of being raped.” Gavi explained that the switch from female to male (specifically the change in physical characteristics) resulted in a very changed experience. Now his glance at a lone woman at the bus stop became a threatening advance. Gavi had to be conscious of these gendered interactions and change the way in which he looked at and spoke to women. Once he was an ally; now he is viewed (like all men, late at night) as a predator.
There are differences between sex and cultures all over the world. Gavi taught me that these differences (in the writing of my blog) need to be considered and he helped me come up with a more accurate term for what I am looking at: “men and women culture.” “Male” and “female” culture may differ from place to place, but “men” and “women,” which are terms for gender in the United States and in other countries, describe one extreme and another rather than physical distinctions; they label identity rather than biology. “Male” and “female” are biological terms, and do not allow for the possibility of genders in-between. Gavi explained that in different cultures, stereotypes are assigned to different genders: for example, in other cultures, the male is the biological sex that is more likely to cry openly in public and he is often times more accepted in his emotional expression. There are individuals who explain their gender quite differently, and as I am looking at gender identity, rather than biological distinctions, the switch from “male/female” to “men/women” culture at the advice of Gavi, is a switch I am willing to make. I believe this will better explain my goals for my research.
* full name has been shortened for protection purposes
** I left out the name of the organization for protection purposes
~ Katherine Niemczyk
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To begin, I am captivated by your topic choice and am thrilled to see the breadth and extent of your research into the topic of gender. This blog entry I find riveting because of the example of the solidarity women can find in one another by a mere glance, without words, without (seemingly) ever having been taught. That a transgender male should discover this after becoming physically male touches upon the cultural normalcy of creating distinct definitions of what it means to be of a certain gender. How does the woman learn to breath easier when another woman steps on the platform? You relate Gavi’s discovery that he had to learn these slight nuances and through this example I can see how the U.S. culture creates quite polar distinctions between genders.
You also touch upon how language can be used to ‘justify’ being transgender, and the relationship between how language defines transgender versus transsexual. This information is relevant to course materials that discusses how cultures create words to attempt to build complexities of our surroundings and is used to alter society’s perception. Considering how our society chooses to define gender, being transgender (as stated in the word parts, trans- and gender) still does carry social taboos. And in the quote by Calpernia Sarah Adams, this so called ‘taboo’ incites a state of terror that does not allow transgender individuals any similar luxuries of ease in who they are (as if scaring people should stop them from being they want to be).
As a last note, I would encourage anyone reading this comment to read the novel Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg.
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