“That the people wishes to be something…It wishes to have real representatives in the Estates General, that is to say, deputies drawn from its order, who are competent to be interpreters of its will and defenders of its interests” (25)
-What Is the Third Estate? – The Abbe Sieyes
“…the ignorance, neglect, or contempt of the rights of man are the sole causes of public calamities and of the corruption of governments, have determined to set forth in a solemn declaration the natural, inalienable, and sacred rights of man…” (27)
-Declaration of the Rights of Man
“Mothers, daughters, sisters [and] representatives of the nation demand to be constituted into a national assembly” (31)
-Declaration of the Rights of Woman – Olympe de Gouges
“If the strength of popular government in peacetime is virtue, the strength of popular government in revolution is both virtue and terror; terror without virtue is disastrous, virtue without terror is powerless” (35-36)
-Virtue and Terror: Speech to the Convention – Maximilien Robespierre
BUT WAIT--THERE'S MORE! SELF-REFLECTION!!!
Gender-Bender: A Brief Documentation on My Current Status as a “Female”
Kate Bornstein’s Gender/Identity/Power Pyramid as mentioned in hir My Gender Workbook: How to Become a Real Man, a Real Woman, the Real You, or Something Else Entirely, provides hir readers with a chart analogous to that of the US Food and Drug Administration’s Basic Food Group Pyramid. Bornstein, with a little “metaphor stretching” (39) draws a parallel to this chart and humanity as it is influenced by Western cultures, with the height of the pyramid representative of a function of power. Gender, ze states, apart from sex which entails a biological assignment, “is a social construct, with respectful nods to biology, physiology, and psychology”. Bornstein’s pyramid captures the diverse character of gender and assigns different sociological factors to “food groups”. This metaphor allows for an accurate image of “the way gender structures hierarchies in the world today” (39).
As a first-generation college student coming from a low-income Hispanic family (who also can’t speak a lick of Spanish), I find it very difficult to place myself on this pyramid. I’ve never questioned by gender (well not prior to enrollment in this class) and I’d consider myself to be a heterosexual female with the occasional nonsexual fascination with my attractive female colleagues. I’ve made the decision to finance my own education via loans in hopes of improving my lifestyle, not only in terms of self-sufficiency, but to be able to support my future family as well as my parents (as a token of my gratitude para mi familia, of course). I have friends that have often scoffed at my mannerisms—referring to me as “manly” and “un lady-like” because I curse like a sailor and have a deeper voice than most of my female counterparts. With each detail of my being taken into consideration, it really is quite difficult to slap a label on my position in society. As I am not a rich, White, Protestant, CEO male with a wealthy family history, I’m most certainly not at the top of the food chain. But I don’t quite identify with the very bottom of the pyramid, either, as I’m making a conscientious effort day-by-day to better my knowledge of the world around me via attending college and seeking a degree in Sociology. I can’t wholeheartedly place myself in the middle of the spectrum, either as I’m not entirely comfortable with defining my own lifestyle on society’s norms and expectations. Regardless of this, I can’t entirely commit to declaring non-gender altogether, as I still feel very connected to “womanhood”. As I’ve had a difficult time identifying with a particular gender-group, I feel that Bornstein’s model provides an excellent example of intersectionality, as well. My gender identification is certainly different from that of my roommate, Briana, who is an intelligent, athletic, blond-haired, green-eyed mix of Portuguese and Italian who also comes from a working-class family. She, too, is a first-generation college student who is also funding her own education. She also defies the common “women-aren’t-any-good-at-math-and-science” stereotype as she has proven herself to be quite great at it. Although we share some socio-characteristics, we certainly do not share a common-gender as we have each been shaped by different preferences and experiences. Kate Bornstein’s pyramid thus serves as an excellent model of the intersectionality theme.
Bornstein’s concept certainly provides for an interesting take on the many socio-economic factors relating to one’s gender and thus provides an accurate model of intersectionality. However, as I’ve found much difficulty in identifying with the groups Bornstein illustrates on hir pyramid, this presents a problem—not with Bornstein’s model as it provides an image of “how gender is” (39), but with the way that gender can or should be. This model reminds me of why I’m going to school in the first place and why I’ve chosen to major in Sociology—to help break these social constraints and allow people to live happily and freely amongst themselves.
Perhaps that is why I felt so much compassion towards the drag queens as mentioned in Verta Taylor and Leila J. Rupp’s Learning from the Drag Queens. Transgenderism has always had such negative taboo about it—I had been invited to gay clubs with friends several times with promises of falling in love with the “trannies” but was always too nervous to take them up on the offer. But now, it seems I’ve been overcome with a strong sense of desire to bend the rules of gender and prance lovingly among the intense sexual freedom. How sexually liberating the experience must be—to lose yourself in androgyny and follow your true sexual desire without fear of hateful discrimination. It seems that the drag queens really are making the world a much better place, one sexually-charged cabaret at a time!
i didnt really read all of the paper portion, but from what i read, i've got these things notice/say: 1. good job on the nice work. 2. glad to see you're a heterosexual female. 3. and ... hooray for androgyny? hah
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