Gender – Yep, Got One

Welcome to the 21st Century where finding out you have a gender is now a big deal. Am I the only one who read that and went… “wait. What?” And I wrote it. Gender continues to be a big deal, although I’m not entirely sure why or if we really have the issue correctly.

Let me start with the easiest part of this, the one I think we all agree on – Gender reveal parties should be kept private. I don’t get the idea of the party aspect of this. I have three kids, by the way. I was in with her doing the ultrasound thing when we found out. We called our parents to tell them. That’s about it unless someone specifically asked. If you want to have a party and surprise your mate, go right ahead, but keep the party to yourselves.

There are a number of reasons for this, not the least of which is a gender reveal party was the cause of the fires in California… and Oregon… and Idaho… and Nevada. One party. Lots of fireworks. And great swathes of a few STATES are on fire. You’ve probably heard about this being the cause, but does anyone actually know what the gender of the kid was? Anyone? No? Here’s another reason to keep it to yourselves, not as many people care as you might think. There was a “YouTube celebrity” who recently spend $100,000 (count the “0”s) to light up the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, all 163-floors, all 828 meters, in blue. I don’t even know who you are. Why would I care what gender your unborn child is? It’s not that I’m uncaring in general, but I don’t have a reason to care. Millions of people are starving and losing their homes and you spend six-digits for a stunt that only one other person really cares about. Look, how “woke” you are! I know. It is their money, and if they want to waste it, who am I to stop them.

Here’s another one that I’m not entirely understanding. Actress Gina Carano, apparently, made a trans-phobic joke on Twitter recently about why people are adding pronouns to their names on Twitter. I had no idea about this, and she admits she didn’t either, but it was explained that some people are adding it so those who don’t know know which pronoun to use with them. I don’t have a problem with that. Neither did she. Her twitter feed literally said as much.

Here’s the catch. She now has a twitter handle that reads “Gina Carano – Boop/Bop/Beep.” The trans-gendered community has taken offense at that and think she’s mocking them. Well… maybe. Or could it be that she’s currently staring in STAR WARS which famously has a character named R2-D2 who rather famously says “Boop/Bop/Beep.” Frankly, lots of the ‘droids say that. Is it a slur? I suppose it could be. Could it also be people being ignorant of who she is and what she does? I think that’s equally likely. Unless “Boop/Bop/Beep” is already a trans-slur – I’m not up on the current list of slurs.

Transgenderism, if that’s the right term, being “out in the open” is a fairly new thing. Personally, whatever gender you want to be, knock yourself out! It doesn’t affect me either way. Whatever you want to do. It is your life. Please excuse me if I knew you as one gender and then meet you as the other and get momentarily thrown. I can just imagine a conversation similar to:

“Hey! How are you doing? I haven’t seen you in a while.”

“I have a penis now!”

“Well, um… great. When did you get that installed?”

I’m fairly certain that is not the correct term. It’s probably also something I don’t need to know. This goes into the main thing about this that I do not understand. What’s the point in starting out with “I used to have a penis!” I realize that most people aren’t THAT blunt and just say “I’m trans,” but why say that at all. I’m not saying hide it, but it does tend to play with the heads of some people, especially if it isn’t any of their business. Whose business is it? Yours. Your lover(s). Perhaps your family and immediate friends. Maybe coworkers. Someone you meet for the first time? Why would it be their business? Let them get to know you and if it comes up, it comes up.

Basically, what I’m saying is, keep your gender to yourself unless specifically asked. It prevents confrontation. It prevents prejudices. Hell, go back to that first part of post and you’ll find it even prevents forest fires! If you want to be proud of your gender, great! Go right ahead! I just don’t think that it needs to be so blatantly revealed. Ultimately, it is nobody’s business but your own.