Several months ago, I was walking at the times beach shore with my sister Maya. It was an awkward walk, because that time, she insisted her strong opinions about the third sexuality, and not only did her opinions differ radically from mine, she tended to express her opinions in ways that left no room for other ideas. I'm amazed that some people never take a moment to acknowledge that their way of looking at the world is not the only way.
At one point, she leaned over to me and said, "You know Ate bing, who drives me crazy? Ate Aning …( Anne Abanto, my former Classmate in Philippine Science High School)."
And me, I'm thinking: "Aning? Aning is one of the sanest members in UP MIn SAGADA (UP third sex community). How can she drive you crazy?"
My Sister continued: "She's always talking about Thirdness. About being neither male nor female. But the way she presents herself is totally female."
And I started to wonder if she really understood thirdness. And as I started to think through the false assumptions that she'd made about thirdness, I started to realize that I've fallen into some mistaken thoughts about third sex.
A few months ago, I was talking to someone I know about my ideas of gender. I was advocating the idea that it would be best for the greater third community if we could all exemplify the idea of third gender. MY point:
I don't have a problem with people choosing an appearance, a behavior, a mode of dress and presentation that fit in to mainstream notions of gender. I wish there were fewer, and I question people a lot on why they choose mainstream gender presentations -- I even evangelize. But it's not my place to tell people that they have to change; that'd be the height of arrogance.
Thirdness behavior, whatever its form, forces society to deal with questions that it largely glosses over: just what do you mean when you say 'man' or 'woman'?
The Prostitutes at Quirino Street whispering “Sir Shine?... This does very little to challenge gender roles.
Let me state for the record that I now regret the way that I've stated all this stuff
About thirdness. I still think that thirdness is an important concept, but I think about it quite differently, now.
I think that my sister Maya words are very important, here. She says
I know I'm not a man -- about that much I'm very clear, and I've come to the conclusion that I'm probably not a woman either, at least not according to a lot of people's rules on this sort of thing. The trouble is, we're living in a world that insists we be one or the other -- a world that doesn't bother to tell us exactly what one or the other is.
For me, the key idea in Maya’s words is the phrase "not a woman …according to a lot of people's rules on this sort of thing." Maya has subsequently made a lot of talking about the performative nature of gender but I want to think about the relationship between "realness" of gender and "social construction" of gender.
When I advocate thirdness, I frequently come into conflict with people who tell me that they their gender is clearly, unambiguously female or clearly, unambiguously male. That's been a tricky thing to deal with, because although I don't really believe in second-guessing other people's identities, I think that there's stuff that those people are overlooking.
Recently, I've compared a concversational statemenbt of our Administrative Officer Beatriz de Vera “Betty” who told me that she cannot imagine whats going on on a head of a lesbian. That maybe Third People have direct knowledge about their gender: not a socially-constructed notion of gender, but a straight-forward "I know there is something inside my head that says 'female'." Ang babae murag lang gyud ug barkada para sa akoa! Mo-appreciate man ko ug babae pero kanang u look up with them na as if you wanted to be like them. Lahi ra gyud ang lalake.. Says Ate Betty one afternoon on our way to her house.
And, y'know, I hear that thing inside my head, too. I know that there's some essential identification of femaleness that's always been there -- that's always been felt. Kung gipanganak ko nga Lalake, Bayot siguro ko, as I agree with ate Betty.
Unfortunately, if you asked me to explain or make sense of that gendered identity, I'm unable to. I don't really believe the biological theories of gender even if I always acted like everything has a Science Explanation and always fpought with ester, nor Weng about it. And I can't equate a gender-specific social role with gender identity either.
There’s that thing in my head that says, "you are a woman." You loved dress, you loved hgh heels, and the everlasting color pink.. How do I talk about that?
Just now I come into conclusion that male-to-female lesbians "are not women. They are deviant males.". Similarly, Gays are not men, but rather (deviant) women
But I did respectd my sweet sister Maya , my coworker Angie and to other third sex peeps.
At one point, she leaned over to me and said, "You know Ate bing, who drives me crazy? Ate Aning …( Anne Abanto, my former Classmate in Philippine Science High School)."
And me, I'm thinking: "Aning? Aning is one of the sanest members in UP MIn SAGADA (UP third sex community). How can she drive you crazy?"
My Sister continued: "She's always talking about Thirdness. About being neither male nor female. But the way she presents herself is totally female."
And I started to wonder if she really understood thirdness. And as I started to think through the false assumptions that she'd made about thirdness, I started to realize that I've fallen into some mistaken thoughts about third sex.
A few months ago, I was talking to someone I know about my ideas of gender. I was advocating the idea that it would be best for the greater third community if we could all exemplify the idea of third gender. MY point:
I don't have a problem with people choosing an appearance, a behavior, a mode of dress and presentation that fit in to mainstream notions of gender. I wish there were fewer, and I question people a lot on why they choose mainstream gender presentations -- I even evangelize. But it's not my place to tell people that they have to change; that'd be the height of arrogance.
Thirdness behavior, whatever its form, forces society to deal with questions that it largely glosses over: just what do you mean when you say 'man' or 'woman'?
The Prostitutes at Quirino Street whispering “Sir Shine?... This does very little to challenge gender roles.
Let me state for the record that I now regret the way that I've stated all this stuff
About thirdness. I still think that thirdness is an important concept, but I think about it quite differently, now.
I think that my sister Maya words are very important, here. She says
I know I'm not a man -- about that much I'm very clear, and I've come to the conclusion that I'm probably not a woman either, at least not according to a lot of people's rules on this sort of thing. The trouble is, we're living in a world that insists we be one or the other -- a world that doesn't bother to tell us exactly what one or the other is.
For me, the key idea in Maya’s words is the phrase "not a woman …according to a lot of people's rules on this sort of thing." Maya has subsequently made a lot of talking about the performative nature of gender but I want to think about the relationship between "realness" of gender and "social construction" of gender.
When I advocate thirdness, I frequently come into conflict with people who tell me that they their gender is clearly, unambiguously female or clearly, unambiguously male. That's been a tricky thing to deal with, because although I don't really believe in second-guessing other people's identities, I think that there's stuff that those people are overlooking.
Recently, I've compared a concversational statemenbt of our Administrative Officer Beatriz de Vera “Betty” who told me that she cannot imagine whats going on on a head of a lesbian. That maybe Third People have direct knowledge about their gender: not a socially-constructed notion of gender, but a straight-forward "I know there is something inside my head that says 'female'." Ang babae murag lang gyud ug barkada para sa akoa! Mo-appreciate man ko ug babae pero kanang u look up with them na as if you wanted to be like them. Lahi ra gyud ang lalake.. Says Ate Betty one afternoon on our way to her house.
And, y'know, I hear that thing inside my head, too. I know that there's some essential identification of femaleness that's always been there -- that's always been felt. Kung gipanganak ko nga Lalake, Bayot siguro ko, as I agree with ate Betty.
Unfortunately, if you asked me to explain or make sense of that gendered identity, I'm unable to. I don't really believe the biological theories of gender even if I always acted like everything has a Science Explanation and always fpought with ester, nor Weng about it. And I can't equate a gender-specific social role with gender identity either.
There’s that thing in my head that says, "you are a woman." You loved dress, you loved hgh heels, and the everlasting color pink.. How do I talk about that?
Just now I come into conclusion that male-to-female lesbians "are not women. They are deviant males.". Similarly, Gays are not men, but rather (deviant) women
But I did respectd my sweet sister Maya , my coworker Angie and to other third sex peeps.
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