There’ve been a few stories recently about Gender Neutrality in the media.
I was a child of the Sixties but Dad’s attitude was Victorian. Even with his disability, Mum was always accountable, had her role to play around the house and never looked beyond the end of her nose when it came to holding or expressing an opinion.
Gender is a political tool. For decades it has been used to beat unwitting male heads as we foolishly make assumptions about the ladies in our lives.
I should say, as I wade ever more deeply into this quagmire I’m making, that I truly believe in equality. My girls are brought up to see all possibilities. Both the older two have chosen to be fashionable girls but both have a harder edge that will see them handle what life brings on their own terms.
I do feel that many people use their gender to either get on in life without effort (men) or to allow it to stymy their careers (women). I have known many men in positions well beyond their abilities and as many very able women who blame their gender on career stagnation.
Gender was a useful tool. As mammals it gave us a blend of genes and a warm protective vessel for early development. Saxon wills were divided into the Spear Half and the Spindle Half showing the accepted role of the genders based, one would guess, on men’s physical strength. The Victorians then created their own nonsense which has dragged itself even into this century as an outdated, and entirely inappropriate picture of gender roles.
Truth be told, we are different. An honest person will admit that though we are all human, men and women have differing attributes. However, the polar separation between the two is now seen as a sliding scale. I choose to sit closer to the manly man end of the spectrum. I don’t spit on the floor, drink pints of vodka and squeeze the backside of any passing wench but I do dress, talk, act and react much as I think a man should.
Modern society is beginning to accept that some folk who happen to have their genitals inside or outside their bodies do not necessarily align themselves with their born gender. Also, we can have “girlie” men and “manly” women who don’t want a sex change. They just present differently.
At work it isn’t an issue. Our seniors are equally represented and the quality of the job you do is seen as a defining factor.
Ashley’s Orthotics department has a transgender secretary who invites him into her office to see the computer before his appointment. He’s happy because she’s friendly and caring. It doesn’t bother him that she still looks like a bloke in a frock so why should it bother us?
So are we ready for a gender neutral society? Probably not. But like most changes, it will come. Freedom of choice will include the assignment of your gender and will be something we respect rather than mock.
Just as disability isn’t a mask or a defining factor, gender should be seen as a random facet of who we are.
