{"id":4594,"date":"2016-05-26T12:06:15","date_gmt":"2016-05-26T18:06:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?p=4594"},"modified":"2016-05-26T12:09:12","modified_gmt":"2016-05-26T18:09:12","slug":"how-do-you-identify","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/05\/how-do-you-identify.html","title":{"rendered":"How do you identify?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Transsexual \u2014 what an archaic term! \u00a0How quickly we\u2019ve moved from the notion that a person \u201cchanges sex\u201d by undergoing surgery, combined with a legal declaration, to the idea that it\u2019s all about how you \u201cidentify\u201d \u2014 and that your \u201cgender identity\u201d could be pretty much anything and society, institutions, and individuals, must comply with your preferences regarding acknowledgement of that identity.<\/p>\n

Yes, I know, there is a reasonable-people-disagree type of claim that someone who is transgender experienced brain development in utero<\/em> that caused the discord between that person\u2019s biological sex, and the deep inner sense of self, and that this \u201cbrain sex\u201d is so deeply imprinted that the only solution to deep mental distress is surgery and hormone administration combined with legal recognition of the alternate sex. \u00a0But it is new, and radical, to insist that rather than this discord requiring that you change your physical appearance and legally-recognized sex, to instead say that your self-perception\/identity is \u2014 all by itself<\/strong> \u2014 the sole determinant of whether you are male or female.<\/p>\n

Recall that the notion of \u201cgender\u201d\u00a0originated as a way to talk about the social construction of masculinity vs. femininity, that is, such things as\u00a0social norms of suits vs. dresses, short vs. long hair, and trucks vs. dolls \u2014 and, in fact, came into use at a point when it was believed that these preferences, and, in fact, all differences besides basic physiology, were all socially constructed, rather than at least partially inborn.<\/p>\n

It then evolved as a way to speak of the identification of men vs. women without having to use the word \u201csex,\u201d which became to icky to put on a form as a checkbox, since its prior multiple meanings became so overshadowed by\u00a0the meaning of \u201csexual intercourse.\u201d \u00a0 (Poll: \u00a0do you ask expectant parents, \u201cdo you know the sex\u201d or \u201cdo you know the gender of the baby?\u201d)<\/p>\n

But now? \u00a0\u201cGender\u201d is becoming irrevokably paired with \u201cidentity\u201d \u2014 and at the same time, according to those cutting edge ideas which ultimately filter to the mainstream, it\u2019s meaning is being expanded far beyond \u201cmale vs. female.\u201d \u00a0There\u2019s \u201cgender nonconforming,\u201d to start with, agender, gender-fluid, and the rest of\u00a0Facebook\u2019s infamous list<\/a> of 51 \u201cgender identities.\u201d \u00a0(Though, despite all the fuss about this, I wonder if they\u2019ve removed this entirely, as I don\u2019t see this anywhere on facebook itself.)<\/p>\n

And\u00a0it seems to me that the notion of \u201cgender\u201d has now evolved into a specification of personality type that\u2019s becoming so disconnected with its original meaning as to become, well, useless, for the purpose of talking about the question of \u201care you physiologically male or female or indeterminite?\u201d (and by the third category I mean that small number of people with intersex conditions, for whom their physiology, not their identity, is at issue).<\/p>\n

The concept of \u201cgender identity\u201d has become a sort of stand-in for \u201cimportant thing about you that you want the world to recognize.\u201d<\/p>\n

And this notion of the primacy of \u201cidentity\u201d seems to be everywhere. Rachel Dolezal<\/a> notwithstanding, one\u2019s racial\/ethnic status is expressed in terms of \u201cidentity\u201d rather than the geographic origin or kinship group of one\u2019s ancestors. \u00a0To read many of the protesters at universities, for instance, it is crucial to them that this identity be affirmed and validated by the universities they attend, and (sorry, no links right now) it\u2019s become increasingly common for students and activists to name their identities, and put them front and center.<\/p>\n

In fact, there was a striking article on The Federalist the other day, \u201cHow Anti-White Rhetoric Is Fueling White Nationalism<\/a>,\u201d the main point of which was this:<\/p>\n

White people are being asked\u2014or pushed\u2014to take stock of their whiteness and identify with it more. This is a remarkably bad idea. The last thing our society needs is for white people to feel more tribal. The result of this tribalism will not be a catharsis of white identity, improving equality for non-whites. It will be resentment towards being the only tribe not given the special treatment bestowed by victimhood.<\/p>\n

A big part of the reason white Americans have been willing to go along with policies that are prejudicial on their face, such as affirmative action, is that they do not view themselves as a tribe. Given the inequality of resources favoring whites in our society, it is a good thing that white people view themselves as the ones without an accent. Should that change, white privilege (whatever one views that to be) will not be eviscerated\u2014it will be entrenched.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Do I identify as white? \u00a0As middle-class? \u00a0As a woman? \u00a0As \u201ccis\u201d? \u00a0As Christian? \u00a0These are all characteristics, to be sure, but in the end, I suppose I\u2019d really have to \u201cidentify as\u201d an introvert.<\/p>\n

Yes, it\u2019s because, when you\u2019re in the majority, you don\u2019t perceive this characteristic as being something distinguishing. \u00a0But this isn\u2019t \u201cwhite privilege\u201d since (I presume) it\u2019s exactly the way Muslims experience their Muslim-ness in, say, Jordan, or Han Chinese experience their Han Chinese-ness in China.<\/p>\n

But having said all that, if you replace \u201cI identify as\u201d with \u201cI indentify with\u201d \u2014 the meaning changes completely. \u00a0\u201cI identify with the Germans being innundated with migrants claiming asylum because my husband is German,\u201d is perfectly natural.<\/p>\n

So, readers, what about you: \u00a0what do you \u201cidentify as\u201d? \u00a0Who do you \u201cidentify with\u201d?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Transsexual \u2014 what an archaic term! \u00a0How quickly we\u2019ve moved from the notion that a person \u201cchanges sex\u201d by undergoing surgery, combined with a legal declaration, to the idea that it\u2019s all about how you \u201cidentify\u201d \u2014 and that your \u201cgender identity\u201d could be pretty much anything and society, institutions, and individuals, must comply with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[394,149],"class_list":["post-4594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-identity","tag-transgender"],"yoast_head":"\nHow do you identify?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Transsexual -- what an archaic term! \u00a0How quickly we've moved from the notion that a person "changes sex" by undergoing surgery, combined with a legal\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/05\/how-do-you-identify.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How do you identify?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Transsexual -- what an archaic term! 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