[Commentary] [USA] Nicole Peterson column: Gender issues aren't as clear as we think

[Stephanie Stevens]

Appleton Post Crescent, WI, USA


Nicole Peterson column: Gender issues aren't as clear as we think

4:22 PM, May. 25, 2012


I’m a self-declared humanist. I guess that’s the best way to begin a
discussion like this. If I’m being fair, I’ve also been considered
somewhat of a feminist by my peers, but I disregard that title,
choosing instead to focus on equality for all minorities.

This is not uncommon; many modern feminists are also advocates of
various racial, socioeconomic or environmental interest groups, as
their desire for equality stems far beyond equal pay for men and
women.

My time at college has opened my eyes to various classifications and
stigmas placed on different groups, but as an intended gender studies
major, much of my focus has been analyzing the roles of gender and
sexuality in our society.

Given President Barack Obama’s recent stance on same-sex marriage,
it’s no surprise that LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender)
issues have become increasingly prevalent in the media. While it’s
arguably clear from my comments which side I support, I have no
intention to write a column reviewing or criticizing political
decisions. Instead, I’d rather look at some of the theories tied into
LGBT.

In gender studies, it’s often taught that sex is a biological makeup
of genes, while gender is the expression of those genes; sexuality, in
turn, is the expression of the genes in relation to others.

This allows us to say that two biological males together in a
partnership are gay, while two partnered females are lesbian. A
bisexual is either a biological male or female who engages in
partnerships with either, sometimes both genders. And a transgender is
someone who was born one gender, but mentally views themselves as
another and takes further action to physically alter their original
gender.

Thus, a biological female who expresses herself and views herself
foremost as a male, is a female-to-male transgender, or vice versa for
a male-to-female transgender.

Although far from mundane, the above definitions are fairly
one-dimensional. Two males — gay; two females — lesbian; partners of
either gender — bisexual; and changing personal gender — transgender.

But what happens when a biological male begins dating a male-to-female
transgender? Is the male straight or gay? Is the transgendered female
gay or straight?

Gender lines are not always one-dimensional, as society would have us
believe, but a muddled, multidimensional spectrum. Individuals can
change their position, challenge existing positions and create new
positions, all without ever leaving the spectrum.

Yet society continues raising children who believe that gender roles
are concrete — girls play with dolls and boys play with trucks, women
spend time in the kitchen and men spend time in the office — but
gender roles are always changing.

I’ve come to believe that we, as a Western society, view gender as
this steadfast being. White male dominance, our core government, is
what the rest of the world must subscribe to as well. But this is far
from true.

In some societies, women perform hard labor right alongside men, or
women perform traditional male roles, while males watch the children.

Minorities come in all forms, whether a bisexual teacher, Latino
doctor, Protestant, lesbian, Irish-Catholic, transgendered student,
poor Thai child, Buddhist monk, working class mother, gay father or an
African-American president.

Everyone is a minority in their own regard. Not a single human being
fits the societal definition of “perfect” in every single way.

And if some of us can be loved and accepted for our differences, how
dare we draw the line for others.

— Nicole Peterson is a Hortonville resident and a Coe College student.
She can be reached at pcle...@postcrescent.com


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