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Dear Jo and Ross

Here’s a suggestion [for a column]: genderqueer.

— R

R, thanks for writing us! Readers: Have you ever felt like you weren’t a “real” man or “real” woman? Do you question whether a two-gender system is the answer? Then you, our friend, may be just a little bit genderqueer. Genderqueer is a term which, like transgender, challenges traditional gender roles and assignments. But more specifically, genderqueer people live outside of the two gender system, both actively and unintentionally.

Drag Show

To borrow a line from Judith Butler, gender is a drag. As we have talked about before, sex may be the physiological/scientific assignment (although even this isn’t perfect), but gender is the performance with associated sex. Just think about the ways you transform your appearance daily to signal your gender to others. A suit or dress. Shaving. A button-up or a blousy shirt. Long hair or short spike. These are part of our gender identity, the way we view ourselves, but it’s also part of the ways we choose to perform our gender for others. Genderqueer is both this internal identity and the performance.

A Spectrum of Gender

Researcher Sandra Bem theorized that gender might not be simply one continuum with masculine on one end and feminine on another, but that there could be two spectrums, one of masculine behaviors and another of feminine behaviors. Someone could feasibly exhibit both strongly masculine and strongly feminine behaviors and be androgynous, have neither masculine nor feminine characteristics and be asexual, or fall somewhere in between. Genderqueer people may see themselves in masculine and/or feminine terms, or — going one step further than Bem — may decide that their gender performance is neither feminine, masculine, androgynous, or asexual — but some other gender variety altogether.

For people who may identify under the broad umbrella of genderqueer, there may be a lot of additional ways they may identify their gender. Here are just a few: androgyne, boi, transboi, gender bender, multi-gendered, boydyke, transgender and transcender. While transgender is an umbrella term that encompasses a host of gender transgressions, genderqueer specifically “queers” the idea of what it means to be a man or a woman, and insists upon fluidity with gender identity.

WTF?

To that end, this also raises the term “genderfuck” — which means to intentionally “fuck” with gender. Having a beard and wearing a skirt, or any gender performance that juxtaposes masculine and feminine together is a genderfuck — a play on the traditional ideas of gender.

Genderqueer and genderfuck are as much an intentional statement about the strict gender roles in society as it is people simply living the identity they wish to live. Many of us alter our bodies to conform to gender roles. For some people who identify as genderqueer, their bodies have never fully allowed them to live in any one space — their gender identity has been questioned as long as they can remember. For others, genderqueer is about carving out this new space intentionally, so although they may be able to physically fit within traditional gender norms, they are choosing to challenge it.

What’s Hir Problem?

Genderqueer individuals may also explore the gendered pronouns that are used in the English language. Some people may prefer to use ze, sie, hir, or simply a singular they to convey their own gender identity. These pronouns may challenge the ways we think about the everyday gendering in our lives — how things like cars or animals are given gendered identities, or how we presume to know the gender identities of people we meet.

Kate Bornstein, author, performance artist, and activist, is a great example of this. Born biologically male and undergoing sex reassignment to become a woman, Kate began to realize that ze was neither a man, nor a woman, but some other gender identity altogether. Hir blogs, books, and performance pieces reflect the fluidity of gender and the paradoxes of a two-gender structure. (Kate will be visiting campus Nov. 16 - 18, so stay tuned!)

To understand genderqueer, we have to understand our own feelings about the idea of a gender binary (rather than fluidity). This means challenging our desire to know and label other’s genders, and respecting how others identify their gender. Remember, the individual knows his or her gender far better than you!

Don’t Forget!

This Sunday is the Greater Community AIDS Project and Alpha Epsilon Phi AIDS Walk to raise money for GCAP. There is no cost for participating in the walk, but donations are accepted and T-shirts are $10. Come out to Illini Grove (Pennsylvania and Lincoln) on Sunday from 12:30 p.m. - 3 p.m. to help benefit Champaign County residents living with HIV/AIDS.

Join us next week as we explore sex addiction.