Appropriation vs. Appreciation
How Gender Ideology Enforces Gender Stereotypes And How We Can Move Beyond Appropriating Others To Focus On Who We Are While Appreciating What We Are
By now, we’ve likely all heard the term ‘cultural appropriation’. According to Cambridge Dictionary cultural appropriation is defined ‘as the act of taking or using things from a culture that is not your own, especially without showing that you understand or respect this culture’. We are told that participating in another culture, even such innocuous acts as wearing a kimono if you’re not Japanese could be dreaded cultural appropriation. Every Halloween, liberal universities around the country remind students when wearing their costumes to avoid ‘appropriating other cultures’ like wearing Native American headdresses etc. However, oddly appropriation seems to be acceptable in certain aspects but not in others. For example, it is totally acceptable for a man to appropriate womanhood but a German person cannot appropriate a Black person. Why is that?
If you do some quick research, you will find article after article typically written by left leading academics stating how transracialism (what we would call cultural appropriation) is wrong but transgenderism (belief that one is actually the opposite sex) is perfectly acceptable. The arguments are of course flimsy and nonsensical. And range from transracial people are not REALLY transracial, they don’t REALLY feel like another race or ethnicity to they can’t be transracial because race is inherited. You can of course make the same arguments for transgenderism. You can argue that biological sex is inherited from our parents and their parents and so on. And of course its impossible to see into someone’s mind to know whether someone TRULY believes themselves to be opposite sex. So it would appear as if there is another motivation for accepting transgenderism but not transracialism. We are told that the whole trans movement (genderism, racialism, ageism, speciesism, ableism-yes these are all real trans identities) is based on feelings and identity. And people should be free to be their true selves and be accepted for who they truly identify with. But of course this is only if those new identities are acceptable within modern liberal ‘woke’ culture. It’s stunning and brave for a man to call himself a woman but it’s bigoted and hateful for a White person to call themselves Black. Why exactly is this?
Transgender people have existed throughout society for quite some time and typically were as a tiny percentage of people. However now we are seeing an incredible explosion overnight among predominantly White left-leaning people. Teenage girls seem to be the cohort with the highest increase. Again, we must ask why. No one seems to be the least bit curious as to why all of a sudden tens of thousands of people including many teenage girls are wanting to mutilate their bodies to present as the opposite sex.
At this point we need to recognize there is a political element within this movement. As we’ve seen in too many examples to cite, elements of critical race and queer theory are becoming implemented in schools around the country in grades as young as preschool. I will not attempt to go into detail to any of these theories, however I will say that these are left leaning highly radical theories which are being force-fed down our throats through the media, big corporations, and through government via the Democratic Party all the way to the White House.
Woke ideology or neoliberalism as I like to refer to it, is a radical leftist ideology which openly seeks to ‘dismantle’ (a.k.a. destroy) our institutions and cultural norms. These institutions which include the police and prison system, Justice Department including the courts, and even what we know as the nuclear family are all ‘problematic’ because progressives say they were built within a racist and sexist system and these institutions and social norms cannot just be improved upon-they must be totally demolished so they can all be can rebuilt within a racial and gender lens. Given this, the political nature of this movement becomes evident. What for some may be a movement of identity and freedom of expression for many others has become a primary goal of the far left. Couple in the profitability made by this movement and it's not hard to begin to connect the dots and identify alternate agendas. Pharmaceutical companies, medical professionals including gender surgeons, those pushing gender affirming care and even therapists all stand to make a significant amount of money by pushing trans ideology. Leftist ideology and profitability for big business certainly seem to play a huge factor in this movement.
Gender ideologues routinely state they believe they are breaking down barriers and stereotypes ‘dismantling’ sexism by remaking womanhood and manhood! They believe they are doing so by determining men/males and women/females not by our bodies but instead by gender identity which is (oddly) gender stereotypes. Yes, that's right by disregarding one of the most important and influential aspects of our lives, the very thing that gives us life and death, our body, activists believe should not be what determines our sex or gender. What makes us men and women should be our personal subjective feelings and stereotypical male or female presentation-and somehow our lives will all be better by this? This is of course nonsensical and not based in reality. Our bodies determine our race, sex, and species. We cannot change race, sex, or species whether by magical thinking, presentation, or even medications and surgeries. Our bodies can be thought of as WHAT we are whereas our minds and feelings can be thought of as WHO we are. So while one cannot change their sex, race, or species they can present superficially as the opposite sex, another race, or even species.
There are many trans identified people such as transman (female presenting as a man) Buck Angel or transwoman (male identifying as a woman) Debbie Hayton who will admit they are biologically female or male respectively but they are living life as the opposite sex. They appear to be able to live their lives as their true selves without denying the physical realities of their bodies. I have seen Hayton state that they are a ‘transwoman’ NOT a woman. Acknowledging that sex is immutable and that one can never actually change their sex seems to be the most ideal and reasonable outcome for trans people. When we engage in mindless mantras ‘transwomen are women’ we not only deny reality but participate with what writer George Orwell called ‘doublethink’.
When we say a trans identified male is a woman, exactly the same as a woman, we must also hold a contradicting belief of what a woman REALLY is. A woman is a human born with a female reproductive system. Whether this system is complete, fully functioning or ever used they remain female. Women are those who menstruate, have vaginas, ability to give birth and go through menopause, etc. It's said about 95%+ of women and girls menstruate and 80%+ of women give birth at some point in their lifetimes. So despite what many trans activists may have you believe, female biology plays a MAJOR role in the lives of women and girls and these are biological functions men will NEVER experience. So for those who believe that a man can in fact become a woman (or a woman a man) they must also understand that these ‘women’ (and ‘men’) are completely different from real women (and men) whether they publicly admit it or not. This cognitive dissonance may work to temporarily alleviate the feelings of discomfort for trans people or make them feel more included, but at what cost? How can we maintain a fully functioning society when we are expected to deny reality and hold public ‘acceptable’ beliefs yet at the same time privately know these beliefs to be not only untrue but actually harmful? How can we properly treat people in a healthcare setting if we do not know the body parts or organs they have? How can we welcome those from other countries who do not speak English and expect them to understand made up, nonsensical, Orwellian doublethink language that native speakers themselves can barely understand?
We need to get to a healthy place in our society where we can accept material reality and WHAT we are while encouraging healthy forms of expression for WHO we are. Let's look at an example of the Lizardman. Erik Sprague is known for his numerous body modifications to appear as a lizard. Although I do not know this man, I think we can reasonably assume he knows he is not actually a lizard. Even with all his tattoos and surgeries he can never become a real lizard-he can only remain lizard like or lizard presenting. Although this may seem unusual this can be a healthy form of expression as long as the individual understands they can never become an actual lizard. If he were to believe himself to be an actual lizard and no longer a human he has moved from the realm of healthy expression to delusional fantasy. And this is where we are with the trans community at the moment. We have moved from acceptance of material reality to moving into fantasy where men can transition more easily into womanhood than making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
If the trans community could simply make peace with the fact that one cannot change sex, race, or species, we can only present as something different, we can move to a better place of acceptance and rights for all. Most if not all of us believe we should be free to express ourselves as we see fit. Although there will always be some who prefer old fashioned norms, most understand the importance to the freedoms of us all to be able to present as we wish. A man presenting or living as a woman is a gender non-conforming man. This should be celebrated. Men should become more accepting of differently presenting men-we should not create some untruth that if a man or boy does not conform to traditional gender rules he becomes a woman, because he does not! Imagine how revolutionary if would be if men were accepted as feminine! Transwomen shouldn't be taking woman of the year awards. They should be taking man of the year awards. I would love to see a transman accepting a woman of the year award! The message it would send is that you can be your true self without denying reality. You can present as masculine or feminine without taking dangerous drugs or having life threatening surgery! We can all be WHO we like without denying WHAT we are.
Some will undoubtedly be uncomfortable with sharing spaces with gender non-conforming people. Some prefer the superficiality and would rather not see a gender nonconforming person in their space. But there isn't an option which will please everyone and so we must work on compromises. And I think it’s important to note this is where gender ideology pushes regressive stereotypes.
To suggest that it would be preferable to have someone using the women’s restroom wearing a dress and having long hair, but has a penis rather than someone who looks like a man but has a vagina is pledging allegiance to gender stereotypes. And not just any gender stereotypes but Western ones specifically. And this is also denying the fact that many people do not conform to gender standards. Butch lesbians and those from non Western cultures being great examples. Many lesbians are masculine presenting and within this regressive thinking they should use the men’s spaces even though they are and identify as women. Although most still adhere to gender norms we should resist continuing to force this on us all. Our obsession with superficial looks is detrimental to society! It enforces not only harmful gender stereotypes but also racial ones as well. Racism and sexism are two sides of the same coin of regressive ideals and superficial looks.
Lets look at race and ethnicity. I am half Cuban. So I identify as Latina but I am very White presenting. I am frequently questioned about my ethnicity and throughout the entirety of my life I’ve heard ‘you don’t look Cuban’ over and over. This denies my identity and sends the message to me that what I actually am, what I've grown up to know, what’s in my DNA is not as important as what other people see in me. And it also sends the message that Hispanic/Latino people are ALL brown skinned and look a certain way. That there is a right way for Hispanic/Latino to look when these are again simply stereotypes.
Do we want to continue to base everything on superficiality and the way we look? Is this the way we want to live? Can we not see how this perpetuates sexism and racism when we constantly focus only on the way people look? Wouldn’t we live in a healthier society if we focused more on the actual person themselves and not solely on their looks? Recognizing the WHAT vs WHO we are and beginning to accept what we cannot change and focus on who we can become would be truly progressive. It's time to stop appropriating each other, blaze our own trails, celebrate and embrace our differences and focus on our common humanity. Trans people should be happy and proud to be trans. A transwoman is NOT a woman but a gender non-conforming man and shouldn’t be controversial to say! Lets stop with the appropriating and start appreciating each other for who rather than what we are!