SumBlog 7

I never thought about how hurtful it can be to someone who is outside the gender binary when people stare or make a face or snide remarks towards them. I've never given it any thought how they must feel, unsure of their place in this world, or totally sure but completely unaccepted. Looking back, I find myself often asking my husband or friends, 'is that a male or a female'? What does it matter? It's a person, with feelings, so keep your thoughts to yourself. After watching the short clip in class about transgender people who are parenting, I say good for them. There are a lot of family situations in this world, especially in the US, where children come from a heterosexual, two parent household and not loved or cared for near as much as some of the children who come from a transgender home. Isn't the child's wellbeing and happiness the main point of being a parent? If that's not the case, I'm failing. Obviously you have to teach them things about surviving in society through tact and what's appropriate and what isn't. But the point is to have happy children who feel loved. And that is exactly what I saw in that clip. Especially the couple who was still expecting. The love that they will be able to give to their child far exceeds what a lot of children feel in a nuclear family.
I randomly came across this buzzfeed article about a woman in San Francisco who began photographing her friends. The women in the pictures are women who are outside the gender binary. I was so excited to share it when it popped up on my Facebook, since it fit perfectly into the discussion in class the other day. These pictures bring light to the thought of 'who cares?' These people are who they are, and that's all that matters. The whole point of this discussion was to make you realize to be true to yourself. Be who you feel you are. Who cares what anyone else thinks? http://www.buzzfeed.com/skarlan/photographing-the-butch-women-of-san-francisco

Sumblog 5

So here's how I see the whole sexuality and gender thing. It's a whole double standard all the way around. It's okay for girls to act this way but not okay for boys to act that way. Why was I a weird girl for playing sports when I was a kid but my brother was encouraged to do it? Why are boys encouraged to pursue science and math in school but girls are discouraged? Why are women encouraged to do things to enhance their physical beauty but men are told to 'be manly'? I watched an episode of What Would You Do? last year that popped into my head the other day. A mother went for a manicure and brought her son with. He wanted a manicure as well and the other actor challenged the mother's decision to allow it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEJwlSP2lac
It bothers me that there were people willing to interfere with the mother's decision to let her son get a manicure. My son tells me quite often that he wants to do things just like me. I don't even think twice about letting him do things, even if it is something that would be considered feminine. If it's what he's wants to do and it's not something that's not going to put him in harm's way, I'm going to let him do it. 
 I also wonder why sexuality is given such a double standard. Why is it okay for girls to kiss eachother and be straight but guys would never dream of it? When we were discussing this in class, I thought of a scene from American Pie 2 when they guys were painting a house that they thought lesbians lived in. So they climbed in the window and the girls came back. Honestly, why is it okay one way and not the other?

I felt very strongly about the video clip we watched about the 'sissy boy experiment'. How could a parent not allow their child to be themselves? That child was so scarred from what his parents put him through that he felt the need to end his own life. I feel awful for his brother and sister who watched the torture happen and were helpless to stop it. The job of being a parent is to love your child no matter what. Clearly there are circumstances where I am not going to approve of what my children do, but I'm going to love them through their mistakes. That's my job. I'm going to do my best to raise them without sinking to society's double standards, despite my husband falling right in line with them.