Gender is a trap, which unfortunately too many people fall into. When you confine yourself to such a trap, you will never be happy. Because society is always telling you what a man or a woman should be (confine themselves to) to be happy. Or what each gender should achieve by a specific age to be happy.
For instance, a man will want a son. Or he should want a son....?And if he doesn’t, he’s weird? For not wanting to procreate. Or that notion that every woman seeks to nurture and will not be fulfilled until she does (meaning that every female seeks completion in caring for men and children) and if she doesn’t achieve these ideals, she will be perenially unhappy and seek outlets to manifest her nurturing instincts/spirit. And the woman who does not aspire to these ideals or is not comfortable with it, will be seen as unnatural, cold, unfeeling, a shrew.
The gender trap also tells us that men and women continually seek to appear attractive to the opposite sex and place a high amount of happiness on these factors. The lack thereof we are told, means the person is unhappy and not fulfilled.
And of course there is all that hate and discrimination directed against people who love those of the same gender, the way men and women are supposed to love each other. What they say is that no religion condones such love, for it is unnatural. However most religious are man-made to encourage the propogation of the human race and ensure the continuos survival of this species and its dominion of earth.
At a more micro level, this is why most religions reject homosexual relationships in favour of the relationship that will ensure strength in numbers and the continued survival of a race and religion.
Which is why most religions cannot be seen to be encouraging of homosexuality. And why most gay people are encourage to forget their inclinations in favour of heterosexual unions.
Also the propagation of a race means women as the vessel of procreation, must want to continue to breed or feel that they are not complete if they don’t. Most “organised” religions therefore encourage women to aspire to these ideals.
What I have stated above is not a critique of spirituality or God, for we must remember, that religious texts are written by men, humans, and the nature of humans is to think in the context of gender and society, and for a society, race and religion to continue to thrive, there needs to be more humans born within its circle. As such the rules set for females within such religious doctrines is to breed, nurture and support men whom they will have children with. So in worship, and being “good” within the context of religion, women are encouraged to see both these things as gifts, and to aspire to it, pray for it. Not achieving these things within one’s lifetime, is seen as bad luck and a recipe for and unhappy and unfulfilled life.
To sum up my rant, I believe we should aspire to be individuals and not be narrowly confined within the gender trap.
