A, B, or C-- but never ALL/NONE of the Above?
I had a really interesting discussion with my Mom about gender inclusivity, after reading an article that my school newspaper did on the "purple penguins" drama in Nebraska. While my mom is a very open and accepting woman, she's also not really aware of the full spectrum of gender and sexuality, and was confused because she thought that "boys and girls" included everyone. So I had to explain to her that, well, there are agender and genderfluid people, too, and what it means to be those things-- and, therefore, why boys and girls does not encompass everyone. And she actually got angry about it. She said, and I quoth, "I don't understand it, but whatever. *huff* "
And I was a little surprised by this-- she has numerous trans friends, so is aware of this idea that people can be biologically male or female, but identify as something else. The predominant discourse about this is that people realize that their biological sex and their gender doesn't line-up from a very young age... so why wouldn't being gender-inclusive in elementary school make sense?
My aim is not to shame my mom-- it's a new way of thinking and new things are sometimes scary. It just made me really uncomfortable, because I identify as asexual and haven't come-out to my mom yet. And I had actually been building up courage to say something in the weeks leading-up to her visit, which was this past weekend. I figured that it would be no big deal-- she's liberal, politically, and has numerous friends in the gay community. It wouldn't be a big deal if I was a small part of that, right? But her reaction to genderfluid and agender individuals seemed, to me, a predictor to how she might deal with me being asexual.
So, once again I'm stuck in this conundrum of "do I tell her so she knows" or, alternatively, "do I keep it to myself, because it's not like my sexual orientation is relevant to her"?
