NationStates Jolt Archive

The comedian?

The comedian?

Yes, the comedian. There's always someone, out there, that may play a better you.

Oh wow, this is such a confusing topic. The whole issue about gender pronouns got me thinking to how gender/sex (not sure which) is such an automatic/low-level concept. It's almost like breathing, in the sense that which gender pronoun I use is not a conscious thought.

It makes me think that gender pronouns should be abolished (not very easy at all) and replaced with animate and inanimate pronouns.

And to whether a trans person can ever truly experience what it is like to be their* assumed sex. Well... if we assume that gender is an entirely social construct then yes. If it's partly a biological construct relating to hormones then maybe, depends if they're on HRT or something. But then what about the sex/physiological side of things that's less related to gender. Does having various sex organs, say mammary glands and not simply breasts, change how your brain interprets the world around it -- or can this be entirely encompassed by HRT.

I personally think sex is quite simply the body you inhabit -- a very simple notion. Whereas gender is how you percieve the world around you. It seems likely that gender is partly social and partly physiological (but not tied to sex). Our DNA I presume is responsible for the precise concoction of hormones and other chemicals we release into our bodies -- this being the first half of gender, and then the second half of gender is how we categorise the resultant behaviour and how that feedback effects our perceptions and behaviour.

I suppose it would be entirely possible to have more than just two genders, but the emergence of two is tied to there, for the most part, only two sexes, and that many behaviours seem more prevalent a particular sex.

All in all I'm not sure I'll ever be able to empathise with a trans person. That is I just can't get my head around what it must be like to want to have a differently sexed body. Maybe that's part of who I am though -- gender and sex and never seemed all that important to me.

I'm not sure that I'm looking for a response here, just try to write down what I think so I can try and evaluate it.

* I think this is something that I do a lot -- replace the singular gendered pronoun with the neuter plural pronoun when I'm unsure about gender, even though it's grammatically incorrect. I don't remember when I started doing it, but it's pretty much automatic now.

Eeehm.. the boy likes dresses and dolls. While many people do associate that with "being girly", I do not see why it has to be so.All boys like dolls. They just call them 'Action Figures'.

Yes, the comedian. There's always someone, out there, that may play a better you.

I love his reaction. It led into the next segment, my favorite Lewis Black bit ever:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xYvHqtrDMo

All boys like dolls. They just call them 'Action Figures'.
Most of my friends when I was young preferred toy cars, plastic weapons, dinosaurs or lego to action figures. When toys of humans were involved, they were usually other peoples', and were promptly eaten by the dinosaurs, run over by the cars or shot with nerf guns.

Ahh, good old childhood misanthropy...

I remember having a spear-armed legoman run through the lego-city two female cousins of me had made, and attempting to be violent.

But, anyway, the 'All' wasn't meant as a scientific 'Everyone', but as a colloquial 'All, even though it's not all. But enough'.

The point remains. GI Joe, Transformers and those crazy dinosaur laser guys nobody remembers because the eighties are dead action figures == dolls.

All boys like dolls. They just call them 'Action Figures'.

And they had guns!

I love his reaction. It led into the next segment, my favorite Lewis Black bit ever:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xYvHqtrDMo

He's so angry and yet, so so funny. :)

I love his reaction. It led into the next segment, my favorite Lewis Black bit ever:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xYvHqtrDMo

That one is good, but I think this one is better, although very short. Sorry for the bad quality:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGlVhss6Gr4

I remember having a spear-armed legoman run through the lego-city two female cousins of me had made, and attempting to be violent.

But, anyway, the 'All' wasn't meant as a scientific 'Everyone', but as a colloquial 'All, even though it's not all. But enough'.

The point remains. GI Joe, Transformers and those crazy dinosaur laser guys nobody remembers because the eighties are dead action figures == dolls.

I liked playing with GI Joes. They were more fun than Barbie dolls.

I liked playing with GI Joes. They were more fun than Barbie dolls.

I never bothered with action figures or dolls. I had my computer, everything else kinda fell by the wayside.

I never bothered with action figures or dolls. I had my computer, everything else kinda fell by the wayside.

Don't slap me with your youth.:(


;)

Don't slap me with your youth.:(


;)

No, most children my age still had figures and dolls, but I just wasn't interested in them. Videogames have always been my passion, and before I had videogames I just messed around on this drawing program that came with my computer. I've never been able to expand my imagination to cover dolls, all I'd do was chew on them. Their houses and whatever, I could spend hours building them, but once the building was done there was nothing else to do but smash it down. Lego was my greatest discovery once my father broke my amiga. :P

No, most children my age still had figures and dolls, but I just wasn't interested in them. Videogames have always been my passion, and before I had videogames I just messed around on this drawing program that came with my computer. I've never been able to expand my imagination to cover dolls, all I'd do was chew on them. Their houses and whatever, I could spend hours building them, but once the building was done there was nothing else to do but smash it down. Lego was my greatest discovery once my father broke my amiga. :P

Lego kicks ass. I like it now and I'm 28. I can spend hours building weird things with those. Lego stole my soul!

No, most children my age still had figures and dolls, but I just wasn't interested in them. Videogames have always been my passion, and before I had videogames I just messed around on this drawing program that came with my computer. I've never been able to expand my imagination to cover dolls, all I'd do was chew on them. Their houses and whatever, I could spend hours building them, but once the building was done there was nothing else to do but smash it down. Lego was my greatest discovery once my father broke my amiga. :P

They didn't have computers when I was a child.... :(

They didn't have computers when I was a child.... :(

Poor Galloism :(

It wasn't til you were in your mid-teens that you finally got used to seeing those 'horseless carriages' about either, eh? :D

I liked playing with GI Joes. They were more fun than Barbie dolls.

I had Barbies and GI Joes....I thought the Joe dolls were better than Ken dolls because their hands moved and also they had guns.

My Barbies were always naked......I didn't remember why until I had girls and it's freaking hard to get them dressed again after you undress them.

I had Barbies and GI Joes....I thought the Joe dolls were better than Ken dolls because their hands moved and also they had guns.

And didn't look like their faces were shot with botox either. Boys' toys were always more fun, for me at least.

My Barbies were always naked......I didn't remember why until I had girls and it's freaking hard to get them dressed again after you undress them.

:tongue:

Don't slap me with your youth.:(


;)
Is that what they're calling it today? ;)
They didn't have computers when I was a child.... :(

:eek:

They didn't have computers when I was a child.... :(

You didn't even have ''The Computer of the Republic''?

(Finnish nickname for the Commodore 64)

I thought this was another one of those social experiment things I read about all the time in school.

Poor Galloism :(

It wasn't til you were in your mid-teens that you finally got used to seeing those 'horseless carriages' about either, eh? :D

He is ancient, the poor Gallo. He is.

He is ancient, the poor Gallo. He is.

Awww, that's just mean.

They didn't have computers when I was a child.... :(You don't know what you missed.
I didn't have one until the middle of 5th grade. It changed my life totally. ;)

You don't know what you missed.
I didn't have one until the middle of 5th grade. It changed my life totally. ;)

*shakes cane*

Get off my lawn!

[/tease]

ok now? :p

[/tease]

ok now? :p

Tease him. He's an old old man.