Saturday, December 29, 2007

insignificant others

In much the same fashion with which the society at large diminishes, demonizes and dismisses the gender variant community, the predominant elements of the genderqueer populace deride those outside the boundaries of comfortable delineation.

Transpeople and those with whom they bond fracture the framework of gay and straight; and the splintering leaves slivers of animosity lodged underneath the skin of those framing the rigid castes of gender.

For those whose lives are invested in the proposition that gender is an immutable manifestation of self, the concept of fluidity may seem threatening; an undermining of the foundations of identity. While biological differences are indisputable, the relationship of physiological distinctions to social asymmetry is neither clear cut, nor without mitigating factors.

Society has fashioned roles based upon the supposed flesh dichotomy; and many have mistaken those constructions for elemental forms of the human condition. True, there is comfort in the belief that gender is preordained, and thus beyond our ability to effectively alter; but our lives demonstrate changing roles- from infant, to child, to adult- and these shifting behavior patterns are accepted as normal. Why then should the adoption of another form of conduct be judged impossible and offensive?

To diminish the validity of another's identity to shore up one's own smacks of definition by negation; it demonstrates a lack of self- understanding, and an empathetic ignorance of others. To link individuals or groups to undesirable attributes, and by disassociation from them claim personal virtue-this is neither logical nor prudent; it merely exhibits a lack of clear values by hoping to pander to common fear and revulsion. Morality comes not from a lack of vice, or a deficit of malignancy; it is derived from acts of charity and compassion, behaviors that demand personal risk and loss in pursuit of uncertain and nebulous gain. One can not build an ethical identity upon the razed ruins of another's respect, there must be a delineation of personal principles and a list resources allocated to raise such a foundation.

The unwillingness to sacrifice others to found ones' self, especially in a culture fond of cannibalizing what it considers outsiders, remains one of the greatest challenges for the gender variant to master. Hopes for a constructive, inclusive society however, depend on mastering such skills, and extending a gracious benevolence towards those fixated upon destroying people who fall beyond the pale of fearful cowardice they have erected within their own minds.

Without an appreciation of the mental and moral shackles that bind the craven to their destructive bigotry, and a willingness to perceive and acknowledge those failings within our own lives, we insure the creation of insignificant others, especially ourselves.

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