Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Gender 101, Episode Ten: Gendered Words in our Language and Culture

Please check out this latest installment of our talks on gender with Benji, a Gender Queer Activist and an awesome new friend of ours here at this blog!




I adore these conversations with Benji. When editing this, I almost cut out the part where Benji says they don't know exactly how to pronounce "Mx." but then I realized it's one of the things I adore best about them and these discussions. Understanding that the lens with which we view gender is so rigid in our society, and the issues of gender conformity so broad-ranging, that even someone as plugged in and on top of things as Benji could have a moment/issue where they still had things to learn, too.

And I think that's a great thing to remember for all of us as we continue thinking about Gender within ourselves and our culture - that we can all continue to learn, and grow, and expand our world-views to embrace gender non-conformity.

Oh, and Benji wanted me to share with everyone that "honorific" was the word they intended to say, rather than "honorarium." No worries, I'm constantly having the wrong words pop out, too, to my kid's amusement (and my husband's eye rolls!)

Gender 101 will be taking a summer break, but look for our Gender 101 video series to start up again in September!

If you've missed any of the ten episodes so far, here are some quick links:

Gender 101, episode 1: Don't Box Me In

Gender 101, episode 2: Thinking about Gender

Gender 101, episode 3: A New Vocabulary

Gender 101, episode 4: Cis, Trans, Queer: Words to Describe Gender

Gender 101, episode 5: "Bisexual" and "Pansexual" - What's the Difference?

Gender 101, episode 6: Being Gender Queer In Our World

Gender 101, episode 7: Gender Neutral Bathrooms - And Why They're Important

Gender 101, episode 8: Gender Queer Advice and Resources

Gender 101, episode 9: Family and Coming Out as Gender Variant

Gender 101, episode 10: Gendered Words In Our Language and Culture


Enjoy!

Namaste,
Lee

2 comments:

Lucy said...

I didn't know then, but have I found someone who pronounces Mx. as "mix."
http://genderfork.com/2011/question-titles/#comments
:D Yay community.

Lee Wind, M.Ed. said...

You know, Lucy, it occurs to me that "Dr." has evolved into a gender-neutral title in our language. Which is perhaps a source of hope that we can get to a place where titles aren't so gender-defined.
Namaste,
Lee