This NPR piece about youngsters whose biological sex is at odds with their gender identities & the "treatment" sought by their parentals is terribly interesting. In the case of Bradley (the biological male that identified as female by age 3), I found it worth pondering that the mother was only compelled to seek "treatment" when she realized how dangerous such gender non-conformity would be for Bradley (other boys would surely beat him up & torment him for being a Barbie-loving, girly-boy!). This is very similar to the way parents come down on their daughter's behavior to protect them from the boys that might victimize them (teaching us to 'act like a girl', be quiet & let the boys lead, how to avoid dressing like a slut, run to Daddy for help rather than handle your own business, etc.). Poor kid! Identifying with us females wins him the same oppressive bullshit every teen girl is well aware of! He's better off getting used to the privilege that comes with a penis, if you ask me! Seriously though, I started thinking about how I would approach such a situation if I were the parent of a transgendered toddler & I would like to think that I would be all balls-out (pun intended) like the parents of Jonah/Jona, but I doubt that would be the case. I can empathize with the concerns of Bradley's parents & I remember how fucking mean kids can be to each other. Can you imagine how scary it must be to fear for your kid's safety because who he or she is, how he or she chooses to act or play or dress, how your kid chooses to express their identity is so offensive to other people that violence is an ever-present danger? The stress must be overwhelming. The parents want their kid to be happy, but on the other hand they want their kid safe. That is a fucking quandary. Thoughts?
Speaking of kids, I fucking hate breeders that bring their spawn to restaurants & allow the lil' bastards to trash the place (Cheerios all over the floor & shit...), then ditch the server with the mess & a shitty tip. I understand that toddlers are quick & in to everything so cups will be knocked over, food will be left in the booths, and whining (sometimes downright tantrums) will occur from time to time. BUT the parent is responsible for the kid, therefore the parent is also responsible for the inconvenience they may cause. If you expect the wait staff to deal with Hurricane Baby, tip them accordingly & apologize profusely. It's only common decency, people!
A study of 600 racially & socio-economically diverse teen girls from California & Georgia suggests that how a girl perceives sexism & sexual harassment is largely influenced by cultural factors. According to the researchers; Asst. Professor of Psychology Christia Brown from the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences and Psychology Professor Campbell Leaper of the University of California Santa Cruz; exposure to feminist ideas and less pressure from family members to conform to gender stereotypes resulted in teens that were more likely to identify & report sexual harassment or sexism. Girls brought up without such exposure were more likely to attribute negative sexual attention as the product of their own shortcomings. I can totally buy into this line of reasoning, based on my own girlhood experience. I was the first of three daughters that my Dad, in all his sexist glory, was unprepared to raise. He had very set ideas about what a "girl" was & my vocal aggressive manner was not what he had in mind. I was indirectly taught that my loudmouth & the fact that I refused to be a wilting violet was the reason boys harassed me about my boobs, why they made sexual advances I didn't want, and why they treated me the way they did. As a youngster, I thought that boys harassed me because I brought the attention on myself. Never did it occur to me that they were wrong for grabbing my boobs! I was at fault for wearing too tight of a T-shirt! Fucking sexist parental units are suckier than I thought!
Along the same vein, here's a retarded article about street harassment entitled:Catcalling: creepy or a compliment? Gee, I'll bet the reason gals, myself included, see the absence of cat-callers as an indication that they look bad has more than a little bit to do with the above mentioned cultural conditioning!
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