Ok, so tonight I decided to start a book I have been looking forward to for quite some time. The book is Eve Shapiro's Gender Circuits: Bodies and Identities in a Technological Age. There are basically five chapters, and each one approximately 40+ pages. So I have decided to break each chapter up into two sections to make this a little easier to absorb. I'm a one of those people who reads slowly and needs time to digest what I read. So tonight, I started with the "Series Foreword," "Preface," and the first 20 or so pages of "Preview: Gendered Bodies and Identities in a Technological Age."
Blogging becomes difficult for me tonight. I could just chat away about how well Shapiro presents the basics of gender, describing how we now know it is socially constructed and giving detailed explanations of terms in boxes that are set off in gray, allowing you to skip these if you already know the meanings. I could also discuss my excitement when Shapiro writes "I have endeavored to write in a jargon free manner" (xv).
But what I wouldn't be blogging about is what I learned about myself, both past and present, as I read Shapiro's text. She introduced me to a term tonight I had either never heard before, or it had never been explained in a way that resonated with me. The term is gender scripts. The things that we learn as we grow up that cue people into our gender identity. The way we walk, the way we talk, the way we dress, our every action is read by the people with which we come in contact. This is where the light bulb went off in my head, and I'm not talking no 25 watter here. I'm talking full halogen strength. Every since I was a kid, I've been referred to as a boy, or later in life, sir. It use too, and I guess still does, piss me off every time it happens. But it finally dawned on me as I was reading about gender scripts that the reason people always call me sir is because I do not act out the correct scripts for a woman. I always thought the people were just idiots, but the reality is that they were and are reading the scripts correctly, just not looking closely. I don't like labels. I don't like "acting" out one way or another. But society has set the norms for these scripts and there is nothing I can do about that. I can't conform because I only know how to be who I am.
So while I know I will enjoy Shapiro's text, I just wonder how many more surprises are in store for me about myself. I never imagined this blogging thing would get so personal!!!
Blogging becomes difficult for me tonight. I could just chat away about how well Shapiro presents the basics of gender, describing how we now know it is socially constructed and giving detailed explanations of terms in boxes that are set off in gray, allowing you to skip these if you already know the meanings. I could also discuss my excitement when Shapiro writes "I have endeavored to write in a jargon free manner" (xv).
But what I wouldn't be blogging about is what I learned about myself, both past and present, as I read Shapiro's text. She introduced me to a term tonight I had either never heard before, or it had never been explained in a way that resonated with me. The term is gender scripts. The things that we learn as we grow up that cue people into our gender identity. The way we walk, the way we talk, the way we dress, our every action is read by the people with which we come in contact. This is where the light bulb went off in my head, and I'm not talking no 25 watter here. I'm talking full halogen strength. Every since I was a kid, I've been referred to as a boy, or later in life, sir. It use too, and I guess still does, piss me off every time it happens. But it finally dawned on me as I was reading about gender scripts that the reason people always call me sir is because I do not act out the correct scripts for a woman. I always thought the people were just idiots, but the reality is that they were and are reading the scripts correctly, just not looking closely. I don't like labels. I don't like "acting" out one way or another. But society has set the norms for these scripts and there is nothing I can do about that. I can't conform because I only know how to be who I am.
So while I know I will enjoy Shapiro's text, I just wonder how many more surprises are in store for me about myself. I never imagined this blogging thing would get so personal!!!
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