On the desire to ride my bicycle, and other musings...
Making the decision to buy a new bike (my previous one was stolen) and ride it to and from work every day was one of the best ideas I've had lately. It was prompted by the threat of sudden removal of my automobile (my dad's broke down and he needed to get around RI). Rather than be frustrated or angry at this prospect, I decided to get really excited about breaking my dependence on the cute, Swedish, petroleum-fueled machine. I am, of course, talking about my Volvo, and not a sex toy. Well, to make a long story short (too late!) I ended up getting to keep the Volvo, and also acquire a beautiful new bicycle. The result being that not only does my brain get an all-natural injection of happy chemicals on the way to work each morning, but I also have time to muse and wax poetical on myriad philosophical concepts on the way. Or just zone out and enjoy the amazing view.
Today's philosophical musing began a long time ago when I was first discovering the amazing amount of homosexual interaction between various members of the animal kingdom. This was my first introduction to the fact that homosexuality was not exclusively a human behavior, and could not be considered unnatural by any stretch of the imagination. Recently, this internal dialogue has progressed to include thoughts about gender, for it has been my general feeling, as of late, that gender ranks up there with time on the list of less meaningful societal constructions.
This is one of those things that when people ask me how exactly my life has changed recently, I am unable to articulate. Now I'm finally able to put it into words. Recent discussions with Vikki, who just read a book considering gender in the animal kingdom from a scientific point of view, have led my mind to entirely new vistas of thought. These new ideas have been so effective in their persuasion that they managed to goad my mind into leaping off those high, high Bluffs of Prior Thought, and even convinced it that rather than splattering spectacularly on the rocks below in a mess of grey-matter-goo, it will, in fact, soar. And it has. So now I give you:
Cheif among these is the idea that binary gender is not biologically innate, something that I had always taken for granted up until very recently. This book, the title of which I will soon procure and pass along, discusses in detail that there are very few (if any) species in the world for whom a binary gender system adequately describes social or sexual interaction. Vikki cited examples to me of amphibians, such as certain species of frogs, to whom you would have to assign at least five genders (two "male" and three "female") in order to give an accurate representation of their natural behavior. So it is clear that a gender binary simply falls short of providing meaningful information about the lives of these animals.
If this is something that is true of frogs, what must this mean for humans, who have so many different modes of sexual and social expression, and the will to choose between them! Humans, who, in addition to the animal attraction, explore the complex emotion of love, which can be universally applied and understood. So what keeps us from breaking down barriers and allowing ourselves to love and interact sexually with all humans, regardless of percieved gender? I am willing to say at this point, barring further evidence, that it is psychological conditioning and the bias of preference. I do experience this preference, even after attempting to rationally consider the issue at large, but I find that it is slowly dissolving, and I am now very comfortable with thoughts and feelings that may have weirded me out not a year ago.
Anyway, before I descend into cryptic pyscho-babbling about things that I don't yet fully understand, I will conclude. I mean to think about this more at length, and I plan to read that book as soon as possible. It sounds terribly exciting. One more thing before I go. I think it can be just as fantastic to celebrate gender as it is to fuck with it, and the two are often one and the same. I believe the realization that gender is primarily an illusion does not diminish its fun qualities any more than the fact that believing that time is a human construct will prevent me from staring at the clock, wishing I was at home, for most of this work day.
Today's philosophical musing began a long time ago when I was first discovering the amazing amount of homosexual interaction between various members of the animal kingdom. This was my first introduction to the fact that homosexuality was not exclusively a human behavior, and could not be considered unnatural by any stretch of the imagination. Recently, this internal dialogue has progressed to include thoughts about gender, for it has been my general feeling, as of late, that gender ranks up there with time on the list of less meaningful societal constructions.
This is one of those things that when people ask me how exactly my life has changed recently, I am unable to articulate. Now I'm finally able to put it into words. Recent discussions with Vikki, who just read a book considering gender in the animal kingdom from a scientific point of view, have led my mind to entirely new vistas of thought. These new ideas have been so effective in their persuasion that they managed to goad my mind into leaping off those high, high Bluffs of Prior Thought, and even convinced it that rather than splattering spectacularly on the rocks below in a mess of grey-matter-goo, it will, in fact, soar. And it has. So now I give you:
Dan's Soaring Mind
A Whole Bunch of Things That Many People Before Me Have Pondered, and Many People After Me Will Surely Ponder, But That Have Become Exciting In My Current Life For Whatever Reason or Another and Certainly Bear More Thought and Study to Follow
A Whole Bunch of Things That Many People Before Me Have Pondered, and Many People After Me Will Surely Ponder, But That Have Become Exciting In My Current Life For Whatever Reason or Another and Certainly Bear More Thought and Study to Follow
Cheif among these is the idea that binary gender is not biologically innate, something that I had always taken for granted up until very recently. This book, the title of which I will soon procure and pass along, discusses in detail that there are very few (if any) species in the world for whom a binary gender system adequately describes social or sexual interaction. Vikki cited examples to me of amphibians, such as certain species of frogs, to whom you would have to assign at least five genders (two "male" and three "female") in order to give an accurate representation of their natural behavior. So it is clear that a gender binary simply falls short of providing meaningful information about the lives of these animals.
If this is something that is true of frogs, what must this mean for humans, who have so many different modes of sexual and social expression, and the will to choose between them! Humans, who, in addition to the animal attraction, explore the complex emotion of love, which can be universally applied and understood. So what keeps us from breaking down barriers and allowing ourselves to love and interact sexually with all humans, regardless of percieved gender? I am willing to say at this point, barring further evidence, that it is psychological conditioning and the bias of preference. I do experience this preference, even after attempting to rationally consider the issue at large, but I find that it is slowly dissolving, and I am now very comfortable with thoughts and feelings that may have weirded me out not a year ago.
Anyway, before I descend into cryptic pyscho-babbling about things that I don't yet fully understand, I will conclude. I mean to think about this more at length, and I plan to read that book as soon as possible. It sounds terribly exciting. One more thing before I go. I think it can be just as fantastic to celebrate gender as it is to fuck with it, and the two are often one and the same. I believe the realization that gender is primarily an illusion does not diminish its fun qualities any more than the fact that believing that time is a human construct will prevent me from staring at the clock, wishing I was at home, for most of this work day.
posted by dan | 9:18 AM
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