#gender normativity

[projectneev]

Gender Normativity: Problems Highlighted.

Languages are constantly evolving, time for the next stage of evolution - inclusivity!

But we need to understand the problems before we can address them. So, here are some ways in which English enforces gender normativity.

Spotlighting

When an adjective draws attention to a role, that challenges a gender stereotype, this is spotlighting.

Ex. Lady Doctor, Male teacher, Female professor, Female Mechanic, Male Housekeeper

Diminutivisation

This is when diminutive suffixes are added to titles or names.

Ex. author-authoress, master-mistress, poet-poetess

Differential Naming

It is a prevalent practice in which males are referred to by adult titles and females are denied adult recognition.

Ex. Mr. Snape, the men from Durmstrang and the girls from Beauxbatons have gathered at the pier.

Featurism

Featurism is when something like appearance is prioritized in women but not in men. This belittles and undermines women's contributions.

Ex. Every time the cast of a movie is interviewed emphasis is given to the actresses wardrobe.

[ladymothwing]

[airplanejane24]

Gender and sexuality question

My boyfriend is doing a paper for his intro to cultural anthropology class, and he asked me this question: where would hijres fit on the LGBTQ+ spectrum?

((Hijras are the official third gender recognized in South Asia.))

So my boyfriend and I are trying to figure out the question because it sounds like it’s trying I place a gender of people ((neither completely male or female)) on the sexuality spectrum, and we don’t exactly think of gender as interconnected with sexuality... so

Where would the third gender of intersex people (hijras) fit in the LGBTQ+ community?

Sos we’ve abandoned his paper and are now just curious what people think

[midnight-visitor]

It’s really hard to date someone who is heterosexual and gender-normative when you are neither of those things Here’s to trying~ :D

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[lunellumcas]

Ugh

Anyone else disappointed by the heteronormativity in Independence Day: Resurgence? I mean, I can't say I was expecting much out of it, but man, it was just so het. Like, when the camera first hit Jake lounging at the helm of his space craft in his trendy bro hat I was like - gay? And then Charlie came up behind him with his heart eyes and I was like - GAY? And then the banter between them about missing each other and I was like - gay gay? But then they had to no homo it talking about girls, and then of course Jake was engaged to the main girl, and Charlie had a (kind of forced feeling) crush on the other girl, so they were super no homo zoned. I’m just saying, they missed some really good opportunities for gay. But wait! You cry. They had a gay couple in the movie tho. Sure. Let's talk about that. First of all, this relationship was so subtextual that in fact, you may not be saying that they had a gay couple because you didn't even realize it. Seriously, here's a transcript of a real conversation I had with Husband after the movie: Him: what was your favorite part of the movie? Me: the long-haired science guy, I just loved him so much. Him: *noises of assent* Me: I'm sorry that they killed his partner tho. Him: yeah, that was sad. And he was like the only one that died in the whole movie! Me: ugh, I know, I'm so mad about it. Like, the only person they killed was a GAY GUY like what is wrong with them. Him: yeah! Wait... He was gay? Me: umm... Yes... He brought him flowers and called him baby once and they held hands that one time. Him: oh, I totally missed that. I thought they were just really good friends... Me: ...Heteronormativity. (Mic drop). So yeah. And second of all: Bury???? Your???? Gays??????? Give me a break. Also, all three of the female characters (all THREE of them) ended the movie as romantic interests. This movie was just all sorts of normative.

[indigobluerose]

I just went to dinner with my inlaws.  One of my husband’s cousins has a baby on the way, and I was forced to hear this conversation with my own damn ears:

“Another girl.”

“Another girl.”

“We need a boy!”

“I know!”

“Oh well, I’m sure she’ll be very cute.”

>:[

At least the food was good.

[lesspannend]

I wrote my first call out after a long time. An email to a coach who taught me very useful things about service design a few days ago. I knew they could easily understand why using the word "girls" instead of "this group over here" (of which I was apart) if I would invest a little bit of energy in an email with some links attached. Aaaand they actually did understand..! They promised to improve the language and be more norm critical not only in their professional but in their personal life too. They apologized. Yassss.

[theroguefeminist]

I’ll never understand how both TERFs and some liberals act as if the cisnormative social construct of gender is extricable from the myth of biological sex. It takes the barest level of social awareness to notice that much normative ideas around gender are rooted in biological essentialism. You are assigned gender based on your “biological sex” at infancy, and alleged essential differences between men and women are frequently accredited to supposed biological disparities in brain chemistry or physiology and hormones.

Some liberals try to account for the existence of trans people by arguing that gender and “biological sex” are separate, and one can be “biologically female” while being “mentally” a man (or vice versa). TERFs claim gender must be abolished, but that one is either “male” or “female” biologically, determining the “social status” accredited to them, and that going against the designation of “male” or “female” is merely a denial of one’s essential place in society (TERFs thus accuse CAFAB trans people of internalized misogyny, and trans women of denying male privilege and being “female fetishists” or “predators”).

Both of these positions are incredibly paradoxical. On the one hand, TERF ideology alleges that we should do away with “men” and “women” as oppressive constructs, while themselves perpetuating and reifying the restrictive constructs of “female” and “male”--which are rooted and tied to patriarchal conceptions of men and women in the first place. On the other, liberals ignore how the designations “male” and “female” and the biological essentialism tied to these labels are inherently gendered and tied to coercive gendering of trans people, defanging the threat trans people pose to gender normativity.

One cannot reject, critique or reform gender as a social construct without abolishing biological sex. In fact, I hold the opposite view of TERFS: while I am ambivalent about the project of abolishing gender, I find the project of abolishing biological sex imperative and wholly necessary. To me, biological sex as a construct is pernicious not only to trans people, but women as a whole. This construct is, to me, clearly without any kind of value or benefit to anyone but cis men--and yet it is one TERF’s remain inexplicably married to.