The Other Gender

[Grandpa]

I'm posting this before Sigs does, because she posts such interesting and probative questions.

You are what you are at least in part by virtue of the gender that you were born to.

Now imagine one Y rather than X, or X rather than Y, spermatozoa having made it to the ovum. The only thing different in your development to an actualized human is the gender.

Take into account your parents' physiologies, psychologies, genetics, heritage, your family and social environment, the background of your ethos, pathos, and logos (and any other baggage that you perceive), your social stimuli and development.

What would you be like now?

 

[mustangclaire]

I got to give this some thought....

 

[hipmamajen]

I would be faaaaabulous!!!!

I'm kind of kidding, and kind of not.

I believe that we are more than the sum total of our physical parts. I believe that we each had existence before we came into the world and took up bodies. In our existence, there were things that we knew to be true about ourselves, some of which would matter when we got here, and some of which wouldn't. (I don't know what those would be, maybe if you're more of a harp angel than a choir angel? Not important.)

Nothing about these earthly bodies are perfect. Imagine trying to find a theater costume while a bunch of other people are backstage trying to do the same thing, and it's dark. It's a big muddle and everyone is trying to be helpful, but the curtains are coming up NOW and what you have in your hands is what you get.

I think (and this is all my thinking not anyone's theology) that this is why some people say that they've never been at home in their skin. I have a friend who says that before she had any idea what gender was, she knew her body wasn't right and that "penis" thing had to go! Another friend had crushes on boys before he really understood what those feelings were, or which people were the "appropriate" targets. I don't think they "learned" these feelings, I think they were just reflecting a truth about our origin that all of us have forgotten.

So, if I was me, and everything was the same except I was an XY instead of an XX? I think I would still be who I feel I am at my core, but it would be an uphill battle to get everyone else to see me that way.

 

[GNTLGNT]

What would you be like now?

...a hirsute Amazon....

 

[DiO'Bolic]

A personal assistant to a famous horror author.

My mother (a local girl in Ireland) was an kinda an unofficial assistant to John Wayne and Marueen O'Hara during the filming of The Quiet Man, because they didn't trust anyone else associated with the filming. The official assistants were just stooges to director John Ford according to the actors. She also babysat for Wayne's two kids during filming. She had one particular story that made me laugh. Ford didn't want actors input, ever! Wayne and O'Hara secretly practiced the fight scene between them, and when he drags her to her brother's farm. They tasked my mother with keeping a lookout so nobody would catch them working out the scene. At one point she saw Ford, hiding behind a tree, watching what the actors were up to. Ford gave the shush signal to my mom. She didn't know what to do, so terrified, did nothing. She never told Wayne and O'Hara what happened.

She was also in the horse racing scene. She really enjoyed the entire experience.

 

[Lepplady]

I'm posting this before Sigs does, because she posts such interesting and probative questions.

You are what you are at least in part by virtue of the gender that you were born to.

Now imagine one Y rather than X, or X rather than Y, spermatozoa having made it to the ovum. The only thing different in your development to an actualized human is the gender.

Take into account your parents' physiologies, psychologies, genetics, heritage, your family and social environment, the background of your ethos, pathos, and logos (and any other baggage that you perceive), your social stimuli and development.

What would you be like now?

I'd be exactly like I am now. Only I'd wear more comfortable shoes.

 

[Neesy]

I'd be exactly like I am now. Only I'd wear more comfortable shoes.

and I could have joined the women's broomball team in the military and fit right in!

 

[staropeace]

I would be a hockey player with the Edmonton Oilers.

 

[Neesy]

I would be a hockey player with the Edmonton Oilers.

and you could marry that cute Janet What's her Face too!

Spoiler

 

[staropeace]

and you could marry that cute Janet What's her Face too!

Spoiler

Lol, there yah go!

 

[staropeace]

That was like a Royal wedding here in Edmonton.

 

[Grandpa]

I think I'd have been a daddy's girl, not because I'm so fixated on my parents, but because my mom didn't get along well with other women (never really gave my wife much consideration and alienated our daughter, if you can believe that), and my dad was more of a humorous, caring sort who would've been fiercely protective of a daughter.

I still think I would've grown up shy and socially awkward. I'd like to think I could've been smart in school and done okay there and been a good Catholic girl for a while, but from a romantic/love standpoint, I just have no freakin' idea. I was kind of a failure with that as a guy, and translating that to first-person girlhood is strange to think about.

But I'd also like to think that I'd wear comfortable shoes from the start! One thing I've never understood about women, and I mean no offense, is why they so willingly mistreat their feet like they do.

 

[Neesy]

I think I'd have been a daddy's girl, not because I'm so fixated on my parents, but because my mom didn't get along well with other women (never really gave my wife much consideration and alienated our daughter, if you can believe that), and my dad was more of a humorous, caring sort who would've been fiercely protective of a daughter.

I still think I would've grown up shy and socially awkward. I'd like to think I could've been smart in school and done okay there and been a good Catholic girl for a while, but from a romantic/love standpoint, I just have no freakin' idea. I was kind of a failure with that as a guy, and translating that to first-person girlhood is strange to think about.

I am picturing you in one of those Catholic school girl uniforms -oops there I go again - posting inappropriate thoughts!

 

[Grandpa]

I am picturing you in one of those Catholic school girl uniforms -oops there I go again - posting inappropriate thoughts!

Well..... in my late teens and early 20s, I had a ponytail.

 

[hipmamajen]

Women's shoes are a cruel, cruel invention.

I might be wrong, because I have big wide feet. So maybe if I had dainty, ladylike feet I would find heels that don't maim and constrict with every step.

As it is, I wear Birkenstocks pretty much everywhere. I keep hoping that someone at church will say that my shoes aren't dressy, or aren't appropriate, because I've been waiting to say, "Hey man, they were good enough for Jesus!" >ba dum bum tsshhh!<

It seems like the male equivalent is neckties. Any outfit that requires a necktie is already kind of stiff and restricting, and then for the finishing touch you add an actual noose? That can't be a good idea!

 

[Lily Sawyer]

I'd be taller and chicks would be beating a path to my door. Why?

Because at least three of my gal pals have told me "if you were a guy, we'd be married."

 

[Lily Sawyer]

Oh, and p.s. -
Every time I hung out with this guy in L.A., people thought we were siblings. (No, we did not date - he was a client.) Our dads look nothing alike.

 

[Lepplady]

Oh, and p.s. -
Every time I hung out with this guy in L.A., people thought we were siblings. (No, we did not date - he was a client.) Our dads look nothing alike.

Wow, those blue eyes!

 

[blunthead]

I'm posting this before Sigs does, because she posts such interesting and probative questions.

You are what you are at least in part by virtue of the gender that you were born to.

Now imagine one Y rather than X, or X rather than Y, spermatozoa having made it to the ovum. The only thing different in your development to an actualized human is the gender.

Take into account your parents' physiologies, psychologies, genetics, heritage, your family and social environment, the background of your ethos, pathos, and logos (and any other baggage that you perceive), your social stimuli and development.

What would you be like now?

...a hirsute Amazon....

and I could have joined the women's broomball team in the military and fit right in!

probative \ˈprō-bə-tiv\ adjective, serving to test or try: exploratory

hirsute \ˈhər-ˌsüt, ˈhir-, ˌhər-ˈ, hir-ˈ\ adjective, having a lot of hair especially on the face or body

broomball \-ˌbȯl\ noun, a variation of ice hockey played on ice without skates and with brooms and a soccer ball used instead of sticks and a puck

 

[blunthead]

I would have been expected to assume that beds must be made regardless of whose. I would never have been expected to cut the grass. Otherwise, I think I'd have been me.