ExpressIndentity, Gender, and the

Elephant in the Room

PREFACEAfter perusing the internet, combing through lengthy sources, hate reading, and creating surveys, we have found that gender may not exist. Gender, being an identity, is determined by the individual, but society is what creates the need for one to determine their own gender. Society is what forms the roles of male and female, and those who do not fit within the roles have to define themselves against them. If these roles did not exist, there would be no need for gender, just personality. Gender is formed by the interaction between society and the individual. Gender is not a way to describe a person’s career path, genitalia, personality traits, fashion sense, or sexuality.

To display an interaction between the sources we found on the subject, we broke them up into categories: Society, Individual, and Gender. Each source fits into one or multiple categories, and since gender is the conversation between society and the individual, we thought this would be a proper way to display the conversation between our sources.

“Is Anatomy Destiny?,” “What Is Gender Essentialism?,” “Why We Are All Trans-(binary)-gender and the Myth of Cisgender,” “The Transgender Myth,”“Feminist Perspectives on Sex and Gender,” and “The End of Gender?” all perpetuated this idea of society and binary genders (male and female). In order to address this, we made our pieces within the Society section talk about the restrictions of the binary and how it is inaccurate the assume all people live within it.

“Choice Theory: Gender Roles And Identity,” “How Changeable is Gender?,” “The End of Gender?,” and “What is Gender?” all discuss gender as an iden-tity and how gender applies to an indi-vidual. In order to address this we made our pieces within the Individual section mention the power one has over their own identity and how gender can make up their identity or affect their identity in positive and negative ways.

“No, The Existence of Trans People Doesn’t Validate Gender Essentialism,” “Why We Are All Trans-(binary)-gender and the Myth of Cisgender,” “Gender-queer,” and “What is Gender” show the interaction between society and the individual. In the Gender section we created pieces that addressed society’s impact on the individual as well as self determination.

The purpose of this zine is to not only share our own opinions and experienc-es with gender but to also establish how society is toxic to the individual and can create a disconnection between what one wants to be and what one is told they are. You, the reader, may notice the quotes on each section divider. The quoted individuals come from a survey conducted by Mia Crockett, one of the authors. Their names are shortened to their last initial for safety reasons. Talking about gender can be a difficult and private thing, so protecting the privacy of the individuals who took the survey matters to us. The entries within the zine are also inspired heavily by the inputs from the survey.

Thank you for reading

Sources

AuthorsCommitted member of the LASA Pride Alliance and teen

artist Mia Crockett enjoys writing poetry and destroying gender roles in her free time. Her tallents include: drawing faces from ¾ view facing the left, licking her elbow, sewing elaborate ghost costumes, graphic design, and illustration. Mia likes to spend her weekends avoiding homework and

instead watching Law and Order.

Slightly less committed member of the LASA Pride Alliance and teen artist Andrew Straus frequently plays videos games and contemplates whether or not he should get a haircut. Andrew is capable of cooking which is honestly incredibly impressive. He also knows how to pair sweaters with buttons ups, draw cute people, and do a convincing robot voice. His interests include long walks on the beach and not WHAP.

Crockett, Mia. “What is Gender?” Conducted 07 Dec. 2015 to 08 Dec. 2015.Friedman, Richard A. “How Changeable is Gender?” The New York Times. The New York Times Company, 22 Aug. 2015. Web. 02 Dec. 2015.Gardner, Sarah. “Choice Theory: Gender Roles And Identity.” International Journal Of Choice Theory & Reality Therapy 35.1 (2015): 31-36. Academic Search Complete. Web. 30 Nov. 2015.“Genderqueer.” Wikipedia. Wikipedia, 1 Dec. 2015. Web. 7 Dec. 2015.Is Anatomy Destiny? Perf. Alice Dreger. Ted.com. Ted, Dec. 2010. Web. 30 Nov. 2015.Jakubowski, Kaylee. “No, The Existence of Trans People Doesn’t Validate Gender Essentialism.” Everyday Feminism. Everyday Feminism, 09 Mar. 2015. Web. 04 Dec. 2015.Mikkola, Mari. “Feminist Perspectives on Sex and Gender.” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. The Metaphysics Research Lab, Fall 2012. Web. 23 Nov. 2015.Ray, Charlie J. “The Transgender Myth.” Web log post. Reasonable Christian. Charlie J Ray, 28 Apr. 2007. Web. 3 Dec. 2015.Weeks, Linton. “The End of Gender?” Around the Nation. Nation Public Radio, 27 June 2011. Web. 24 Nov. 2015.Witt, Charlotte. “What Is Gender Essentialism?” Diss. U of New Hampshire, n.d. What Is Gender Essentialism? University of New Hampshire. Web. 1 Dec. 2015.Wood, Gary. “Why We Are All Trans-(binary)-gender and the Myth of Cisgender.” Web log post. Psycentral. Gary Wood, 21 Feb. 2014. Web. 1 Dec. 2015.

“I feel like gender is seen as though it has to be binary or one of two (male or female). Society sort of forces those who wish to express

themselves differently to have to conform to that uncomfortable position.”

-M.

Tints of RedIn first gradeyou hated pink.You pretended like bluewas the color that caught your eye.There were many reasons for this,the first being that it wasn’t pink,but that wasn’t all.

Blue was mentionedby all the boysas their favorite color.Blue had so many shades.Royal,Cobalt,Sky,Aqua,Navy,Not pink.Blue was mentionedby all the other girlsas their favorite color.Since who wantedto be “girly?”That label having a tactno other insult could replicate.Blue wasn’t the colorthat decorated your bedroom wallsever since you were born.Blue wasn’t the color that made up all the giftsyou had ever received.Blue wasn’t the colorof your dresses,shirts,

shoes,and socks.Blue wasn’t the colorof you.

We color code our children.We dress them in tinted garmentsso we know what kindof genitals they have.From the day we are bornwe are assigned a boxwith our name written on itin a captivating cursiveconstructed by a permanent marker.We growbut this box never grows with us.Our parents were always able to knowwhere we stood.We were constrained,limited.by this box.No one gaves us the scissorsto cut down the cardboard walls.They gave us duct-tape,glue,string.Anything they couldso that we ccould fixthe tears we madewithin the exterior.

In first gradeyou hated pinkand you beganto tear at your box.

How TO:Gender

Fit YourRole

In this large and expansive word of ours, only two things are set in stone.

There are boys... ... and there are girls.

Boys wear pants. Girls wear skirts.

Boys only like cars, sports, and getting dirty.

Girls only like dolls, cooking, and staying clean.

Remember to stick to your roles or someone may confuse for the oppositve gender since there are only two, no other genders, just girl and boy.

You are...

male

Female

“Other people’s understanding and relationship with gender have absolutely no bearing on me unless my ignorance of their

personal “definition” or understanding causes pain or harm, in which case, I, or any other descent human being will do my best

to understand and adjust.”-C.

for meI chose my gender

Not because it is easier...

and I don’t do it for anyone else and it is most definetly not a phase.

You don’t even look like a girl...

I’m not a girl.

What even are you?

I’m me.

Bad Days:a look at dysphoria

Bad daysare when you wake upoff.From the momentyou open your eyesyou can feel a shift withinthe comfort of your identity.You can’t tell people about either,or at least not everyone,just that one friendwho has these days too.

And you wearpants,loose shirts,larger eyebrows,maybe a jacket,sweater,hat.You know it shouldn’t matter,but you can’t helpand put on that extra layer.You need more armor today.

They appear as clothes to somebut for you those knitted garments are a wall,protection from the immense exterior.Since not everyonesees a pair of shorts and makeupand thinks“Girl”but enough do.

Some days it will fadeuntil it becomes a dull painthat is so familiar that you almost forget about it.Other days it staysdeep within your gut

and your clothes feel rough against your skinand you keep wringing your handsand your friends can no longer provide comfortand you scratch at your knucklesand it feels awfulbut you can’t describe it yet.

It’s like whensomeone keeps mispronouncing your nameand you correct them every timebut the don’t stop.It’s like whenyou remember somethingembarrassingthat you did years agoand you still can’t shake the memory.It’s like whenyou get that itchthat is between your ear and you jawand you can never scratch it.

It sucks.That’s the only way to adequately describe the feeling.It comes so easy, too.It creeps up your spine at 1am.No warning.It only takes a word,a sentence,a picture,a song,maybe even nothing.

It’s not always triggered by a reminder.

I Am...Fill in this page with how

gender applies to you.

“Gender is an identity and state of being that has entirely societal roots. It isn’t “fake” and people’s relationships with gender aren’t fake.

I don’t mean to invalidate people in any way. I just believe gender is a human invention.”

- C.

Still validI’m a girl.

I’m a boy.

I’m neither.

ode tomyself

Your body is your ownand no label can change that.

You have begun kissing mirrorsand smilingbecause you have become proudof the shell that encases your identity.And it isn’t like you changed the way you lookbut rather the way you lookat yourself.

Since society labeled you a wayand you finally learnedthat this way wasn’t for you.And for a whileyou were nervousand you tried to showhow you feltto the others around youwith the clothes you woreand the way you talked.

Then you realizedyou were yourselfand you no longer requiredthe bearings of society.

Instead of fitting a pre-made labelyou created one for yourself.Not out for clearitybut necessityand comfort.Doing sowas not easybut here you standwith a nametagthat only you need to see.The approval of othersno longer crosses your mindbecause you learned to approve of yourself.

You were always beautiful.

MemoriesA Collection ofPersonal NarrativesWhy I need to learn how to driveFor me gender was always super confusing, and not in a “what really is it?!?” way, but more like a “yeah totally... wait nevermind” deal (if you catch my drift). And this would go on every day or so. To sum it up it really just lead to an extremely confusing 9th grade year for me. Anyways, one memory I have is when I told my mom how I felt, but since I was really confused, and she more or less forced me to tell her what was making me cry at 10 o’clock at night, it ended up being a pro-foundly awkward night. After I told her, she did the typical “you know I love you very much” thing that parents do when the topic of gender or sexuality comes up (note to parents: don’t do this, please). Every stoplight after that night became a living hell. On our morning drives to school, my mom felt the need to bring up the gen-der conversation every single time the car slowed to a halt. She’d always start the conversation with “Sweety, do you still feel the same way?” And that’s when I knew I was going to have to deal with that shit until we got to school. And I know you’re wondering how I dealt with this. Well, my strategy mostly involves looking out the window and avoiding having to talk by nodding in approval to everything she says.

I knew this one person for a while and I was not a fan of him. It wasn’t anything I could pin to a single trait, it was more of the fact that they had an essence about them that repulsed me. I was checking my email at 1 AM, as one does, and this person happens to message me. Since I am a polite person, I respond. I eventually bring up the most recent QSA (a club for LGBTQIA+ individuals and allies) meeting since they had shown up. They quickly comment on how the club was not for them, which is understandable, considering it can be boring to sit around a room full of strangers. I bring up this point and they swiftly reply with the fact the club was too liberal for them, that we shouldn’t go around making up genders. Making up gen-ders? What’s that supposed to mean? People don’t make up genders for fun, they identify themselves a certain way for their own comfort. They never explained this statement after I asked about it. I don’t message them back anymore.

Gmail needs to fix their chat system

THank you for reading