Are you guys familiar with the genderbread person? The person who illustrated this gave a Ted talk, which is quite interesting. I heard it a long time ago, and I'm a tad fuzzy on all of the details, but the basic gist of it has always stuck with me as a helpful way to think about gender. Basically he says that gender is not binary, and male and female are not polar opposites. Instead male and femaleness exist simultaneously, to varying degrees in each of us. A person could feel very male *and* very female. Or could feel like neither. Or could feel very male and a little female. Basically identifying as very male does not negate your femaleness, to whatever degree you identify as female. Here's the genderbread person: If you use this model as a way to think about gender, where do you fall on the scale? For me if femaleness is represented on a line, I'd mark my femaleness just s bit past the middle point. For my maleness it would be a bit before the middle point. Does this model feel like a tool that helps you think about and articulate your feelings on your gender?
For me it's not that simple. Most of the time I feel female. But when I don't. I don't feel male. And it's not constant. Sometime i feel very female. Sometimes not at all. Most of the time kind of in the middle but leaning towards Agender not male. I never feel male. I sort of see Agender as a zone between male and female and how close I am to that zone varies day to day. Hour to hour. Genderfluid.
I know this infographic isn't perfect, but I love it! Anything that helps me show/articulate a little more about my experience is welcome. It's so hard to explain, even to really progressive, LGBT-friendly people. Thanks for sharing! ---------- Post added 10th Jun 2016 at 09:08 PM ---------- I wonder if I could use something like Skitch to use that graphic as like a worksheet and post back results.....
I am very similar to Katchoo in terms of biological sex and sexual/romantic attraction. I am not sure how I feel about gender identity/expression though. I think I said something similar in another post: people have said to me (under different circumstances) 'you are such a boy/guy' or 'it is okay b/c you are a girl'. The former is almost always a genuine compliment (i.e. I am braver/more hard-working/more independent than the average female) while the latter is almost always a backhanded compliment or a criticism in disguise. I know if we just look at the dictionary definition of conventional masculine v.s. feminine traits, one is not necessarily always superior to the other. There is strength in gentleness and being sensitive can be a great thing sometimes. But in reality, most people (including me) have been raised to value the masculine traits a lot more than the feminine ones.
I'd say I am both masculine and feminine, both something like 80-100%, and am a somewhat androgynous female, if being lanky and fit counts as masculinity, I would have no idea how it marks there. I have no clue on my orientation right now, I think I'm into androgyny. But... I'm somewhat lost on what it means to be a man or a woman, to be honest. I'd say I'm fully a man, like 100%, and a little bit of a woman maybe. I think it's a very good model, because it separates all cultural ideas from the sense of belonging/self. I don't know what it is that gives men and women a different 'vibration', but it's definitely a thing and it has more to do with how you think than what you do and how you look.
Ok I'm doing it the way you all did....let me see if I can attach it ---------- Post added 14th Jun 2016 at 09:55 AM ---------- I'll have to try later....I can't find the attach button...