The Gender Song

There has been a movement in a nearby community college which aims to make acceptable a dual right of bathroom privileges by "transgender" individuals (at least institutionally).  Upon seeing a pamphlet which one of these activist groups has been distributing for their cause, I realized that I did not quite understand what "transgender" means.  I did some cursory research to uncover a suitable definition.  I found quite an extensive explanation of "gender" and "transgender" and all the related terminology from genderspectrum.org, from which the following quotes have been taken.  Follow me, as I build a definition of "gender" from those who know "gender" best:

Firstly, they tackled the precedent nature-nurture question and what difference "gender" had to "sex".  I found this interesting, as I had always taken for granted that they were synonymous.

 "In short, gender is a socially constructed concept."

 That is, it is not the same as one's physical anatomy (organs, hormones, structure, etc.).

 "Along with one’s physical traits, [gender] is the complex interrelationship between those traits and one’s internal sense of self as male, female, both or neither as well as one’s outward presentations and behaviors related to that perception."

So gender is a socially constructed concept which consists of one's personal sense of self in relation to his physical anatomy.  This personal sense of self as male, female, both, or neither is one's "gender identity".

 "Given the potential variation in all of these [anatomical characteristics], biological sex must be seen as a spectrum or range of possibilities rather than a binary set of two options."

The variations they mention are not explained, so it is difficult to see how a "spectrum" of traits makes any more difference in gender differentiation than a "binary set".  The definition, nevertheless, is that gender is a socially constructed concept which consists of one's personal sense of self in relation to his place in the spectrum of physical traits.

 "Some of these individuals choose to socially, hormonally and/or surgically change their sex to more fully match their gender identity."

So much for the variations of the anatomical sex spectrum.  Perhaps they mean to drive home that there is no real connection at all between anatomy and gender.  Gender is a socially constructed concept which consists of one's personal sense of self in relation to his place in the spectrum of physical traits which may be changed to more fully match this sense of self.  "Gender expression" is not "gender identity", but the way in which one decides to express himself as male or female or both or neither.

  "Sometimes, transgender people seek to match their physical expression with their gender identity, rather than their birth-assigned sex. Gender expression should not be viewed as an indication of sexual orientation."

This is a fair and clever distinction.  Gender is a socially constructed concept which consists of one's personal sense of self in relation to his place in the spectrum of physical traits which may be changed to more fully match this sense of self, yet this physical expression of gender may or may not equate to his gender identity.

 "More narrowly defined, [transgender] refers to an individual whose gender identity does not match their assigned birth gender."

So "transgender" person is somebody whose gender is a socially constructed concept which consists of one's personal sense of self in a socially-contradictory relation to his place in the spectrum of physical traits which may be changed to more fully match this sense of self, yet this physical expression of gender may or may not equate to his gender identity.

 "Gender fluidity conveys a wider, more flexible range of gender expression, with interests and behaviors that may even change from day to day. Gender fluid children do not feel confined by restrictive boundaries of stereotypical expectations of girls or boys. In other words, a child may feel they are a girl some days and a boy on others, or possibly feel that neither term describes them accurately."

So a "transgender" person is a person whose gender is a socially constructed concept which consists of one's personal sense of self which may change from day to day, sometimes creating a socially-contradictory relation to his place in the spectrum of physical traits which may be changed to more fully match this sense of self, yet this physical expression of gender may or may not equate to his gender identity and may change from day to day.  The folks at genderspectrum.org are experts in child-rearing and are consequently adamant that parents do not make their children feel bad about whatever feelings they may have regarding their gender.

 "These rejecting behaviors undermine a child’s self-esteem and feelings of self-worth. It should not be surprising that many of the children who end up in the foster care system, run away, or become homeless are gender nonconforming and transgender."

It seems they are insinuating that, when a child is "gender nonconforming", they are prone to abuse and thus are taken from their homes or run away.  So parents, do not make your children feel bad about their gender-feelings, because you may lose your children!  It is therefore a mistake to think that children who are abused by their parents or have any broken or damaged relationship with them or who are rebellious or rejected by society are thus encouraged by their spiritually damaging and psychologically tumultuous worlds to have diverse issues in their personal identity or in judging their self-worth.  So, gender is a socially constructed concept which consists of one's personal sense of self which may change from day to day, sometimes creating a socially-contradictory relation to his place in the spectrum of physical traits which may be changed to more fully match this sense of self, yet this physical expression of gender may or may not equate to his gender identity and may change from day to day, resulting in rejection by their family, peers, and neighbors and thus rendering them a needy minority whose unhappy lives are only the faults of those narrow-minded individuals who cannot bring themselves to accept transgender individuals for who they are.

So ladies, if a man walks into your bathroom, who looks like a man and is attracted to females, he just might be a female at heart, which makes him a transgender lesbian who happens to have a male anatomy.  If this alarms you, know that narrow-minded people like you are the ones who make this world such a difficult place for misunderstood people to live in.