The Tree of Life

Hello, internet! It’s raining outside.

So. Gender. First of all, what the heck is gender? Gender is a point of view from which you participate in society. Gender is how masculine or feminine you are, but it seems to me that there are genders outside of the male to female gradation. Gender is how you act in the presence of others. Are you submissive? Dominant? Are you attracted to them? Do you feel awkward or threatened by their gender?

Now the tough question... My own gender. First of all, who made my gender? Who decided it?

This is a hard question to answer. I think that when I was born, I already had, encoded within me, a specific gender. I knew that I was very gender neutral, with a slight feminine side and submissive tendencies. I knew that when the time came, I would be attracted to men, and that I would have no interest whatsoever in cross dressing.

Well, I didn’t consciously know these things. When I was born all I knew was... Actually, I don’t really remember knowing anything immediately after I was birthed. But my gender was built into me nonetheless, just like the fact that I would have curly hair, a slight lisp, and greenish-hazel eyes was encoded into me as well.

But then there’s the flip side. I had all of these things built into me at the start, but I had no clue how to behave based on these things. I didn’t know what it meant to be masculine or feminine. All these things I learned through my social experiences. I learned that women generally wear dresses, makeup, earrings, stay at home and wear pearls. I learned wrong, as you can see. I also learned that men are macho, play football, don’t express their feelings, bully, and make money. I learned very very wrong.

So that is what gender is to me.

Boom.