The Impact of Background

There is apparently a popular Irish joke of this guy coming to a roadblock during The Troubles. The militants at the roadblock as him his religion and he says "atheist." The militants talk amongst themselves, then ask him "Protestant atheist or Catholic atheist?" It may be a sad joke but it sums up how important one's background is. A Protestant atheist (an atheist of a Protestant background) would have different values, at least when it comes to disbelieving, than a Catholic atheist. And a Hindu atheist would be radically different! Where you come from, no matter how far away you are from it, affects how you approach things now.

The impact of background affects more than just religion, it works with fluid gender and sexual orientation. I strongly identify as genderqueer and my background of woman/lesbian affects my approach today, so I'm most accurately a female-to-queer. Had I come from the background of a man, I'd approach things differently. Coming from an intersexed or gender-free background would have been...optimal. Anyway, I'm usually most comfortable with feminine pronouns, the women's washroom, etc. because I'm used to it. Sometimes I'm frustrated that there are too few non-binary options; it's frustrating enough being perceived as a woman in the first place since this isn't exactly an egalitarian culture! A lot of transsexuals who "successfully pass" experience culture shock as they have to change how they approach things.

I'm usually comfortable functioning as a lesbian since that's my background and it's a lot easier to give the short answer "I'm a dyke" to n00bs than the long explanation "I'm genderqueer and I'm primarily attracted to fellow genderqueers...oh, you haven't heard the term before...etc." And then they get confused when I ogle Chris Colfer...I mean...what?

Identity Continuum

0, 7, 12...the last one baffles me. I like androgynous/masculine females/intersexed/transpeople.

Genderqueer + feminism?

Feminism: the belief that men and women should have equal rights, protections under the law, and social treatment (education, medical care, etc.).

The transgendered, intersex and genderqueer communities are growing in numbers and strength. More and more queer people are losing faith in the Human Rights Campaign and realizing that gay marriage will fix only a small set of problems. The younger generations are also more gender-variant (I guess the emo craze was good for something, after all) in both expression and identity.

Could it be that the Fourth Wave (with the understanding that the third wave ended when the Spice Girls became "riot grrl LITE" and then broke up) be feminism for all genders? Camp Trans becomes more and more popular every year as an alternative for the exclusive Michigan Womyn's Music Festival, for example, and the generational divide between the two is evident. Feminist bookstores across the country carry more and more book about trans, intersex and genderqueer issues.

What do you think?