a blog created by and for UCF (University of Central Florida) Theories of Masculinity students to share experiences, resources/links, articles/reviews, to rouse discussion and incite action, and engage issues related to masculinity. you should participate, too. email moderator for permission at Leandra@ucf.edu.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Venus Boyz
In case y'all want to chat it up about venus boyz :)
I don’t know exactly what to say about Venus boyz other than “that shit was the bomb”! Venus Boyz completely made me re-evaluate everything I ever thought I knew about sexuality and gender and performativity, and took me to a whole other level! I discuss my opinions of socialization in a previous post but I feel that it’s even more relevant for the subject of transgender and especially male-identified women, so I will repeat myself….socialization is a monster! I was excited about last week’s topic because I knew so little about the transgender community and even less about male-identified women, however I was not ready for the enormous realizations I was about to have, let alone the incredible discussion (facilitators and questions included) that would ensue afterwards. I’m not going to bore everyone with my personal realizations but I will say that I had never felt so violated by socialization and so aware of our conditioning until I evaluated this film. I can’t deny that throughout the first few stories that were shared in the film I felt the urge to follow the individual’s explanations of how they were born with genitalia that they did not identify with so they performed as the opposite gender but were then attracted to the same gender of their performed gender (blah blahblahblah) and suddenly I realized THAT IS NOT THE POINT! Why was I trying so hard to follow their explanation of who society viewed them as, in relation to their genitalia, when that was so far from what they were trying to portray in their stories. The point isn’t to look at it as this web of gender performance in the context of the dichotomous view we have been conditioned to think in but rather, to look BEYOND that and realize how terrifying it is that we’ve been taught in a way that doesn’t even allow space in our minds for individuals who challenge those lines and boxes, which we feel everyone needs to fit in. Damn! How did socialization get so deep into my head? I felt inspired by the stories we heard and honestly thought, wow, these are the individuals who “get it”, they are the ones who have not only challenged the dominant norm (even within what is considered to be “their community”, the GLBSU community) but are confident in who they are and how they identify. In a world that can be so cruel to anyone and everyone who doesn’t fit in these completely superficial “boxes” the individuals who shared their stories in this film, and the millions of others who have similar experiences are worthy of praise, and very much appreciated.
1 comment:
I don’t know exactly what to say about Venus boyz other than “that shit was the bomb”! Venus Boyz completely made me re-evaluate everything I ever thought I knew about sexuality and gender and performativity, and took me to a whole other level! I discuss my opinions of socialization in a previous post but I feel that it’s even more relevant for the subject of transgender and especially male-identified women, so I will repeat myself….socialization is a monster! I was excited about last week’s topic because I knew so little about the transgender community and even less about male-identified women, however I was not ready for the enormous realizations I was about to have, let alone the incredible discussion (facilitators and questions included) that would ensue afterwards. I’m not going to bore everyone with my personal realizations but I will say that I had never felt so violated by socialization and so aware of our conditioning until I evaluated this film. I can’t deny that throughout the first few stories that were shared in the film I felt the urge to follow the individual’s explanations of how they were born with genitalia that they did not identify with so they performed as the opposite gender but were then attracted to the same gender of their performed gender (blah blahblahblah) and suddenly I realized THAT IS NOT THE POINT! Why was I trying so hard to follow their explanation of who society viewed them as, in relation to their genitalia, when that was so far from what they were trying to portray in their stories. The point isn’t to look at it as this web of gender performance in the context of the dichotomous view we have been conditioned to think in but rather, to look BEYOND that and realize how terrifying it is that we’ve been taught in a way that doesn’t even allow space in our minds for individuals who challenge those lines and boxes, which we feel everyone needs to fit in. Damn! How did socialization get so deep into my head? I felt inspired by the stories we heard and honestly thought, wow, these are the individuals who “get it”, they are the ones who have not only challenged the dominant norm (even within what is considered to be “their community”, the GLBSU community) but are confident in who they are and how they identify. In a world that can be so cruel to anyone and everyone who doesn’t fit in these completely superficial “boxes” the individuals who shared their stories in this film, and the millions of others who have similar experiences are worthy of praise, and very much appreciated.
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