Cool Confusion

In my last blog I talked about how insecurity plays a role in reality TV. This blog will talk about how it plays a role in gender.

The topic of gender is very fiercely debated currently because people are becoming less and less tied to the traditional ideas of gender and its norms and roles in society. More and more people are identifying as trans* or  any of the other non-binary gender terms that have come into use. Gender is fluid and the idea of only two genders leaves a lot of people out in the cold so to speak.

This is a good resource for getting started on these subjects.
https://www.genderspectrum.org/understanding-gender

Now, how this relates to my overall theory - People have a tendency to identify themselves by a list of terms. A person will say they are a straight, white, male, christian, accountant, that is single, and is a sports fan. These things make the person comfortable because it is easy. The list is like a home for the mind. It gives them something that won't change and is comfortable. A lot of people have trouble with people that don't necessarily go with this idea.

Think about the first questions you ask someone when you meet. It usually involves a lot of these descriptors (name, place of birth, occupation, relationship status, religion, etc.). It allows us to categorize the person in our minds by use of stereotypes and traditional ideas about their answers to these questions. This leads to a social system that is pretty easy where you can find likeminded people based on a single thing and feel a bond with them. Now, when people start to throw out some of these descriptors from their life it makes people uncomfortable. They don't know how to react when you say  you don't prescribe to a binary gender or a nontraditional job etc. It confuses a lot of people and makes them wonder about themselves and if the little comfortable corner they have described themselves into is really as true as they thought it was.

This isn't to say that people who identify as one of the two "main" genders are bad or wrong. They aren't, but trying to force everyone to do that is like trying to get everyone to be a Christian, or a fan of a specific sports team. It isn't going to happen. The cat is out of the bag on gender and I don't think it will go back in in the foreseeable future, so get used to it.