Questions de genre

[greenie_breizh]

Deux liens intéressants que des amies m'ont envoyé (j'adore quand les gens font ça :) :

Sportives et homosexuelles: le grand tabou. Je ne suis pas vraiment l'actualité en France et encore moins l'activité du football mais que l'équipe de France de foot féminine soit passée à la trappe ne m'étonne pas vraiment... l'article fait des remarques très intéressantes sur la nécessité de s'hétérosexualiser pour devenir une figure acceptable, et ça ne fait pas de mal de se faire rappeler qu'Amélie Mauresmo aussi a dû subir ce genre de choses avant de faire son coming out officiel.

Les filles brillent en classe, les garçons aux concours. J'ai grincé des dents (tout comme dans l'article précédent) quand l'article commence à parler de la différence entre le cerveau d'une femme et celui d'un homme, mais heureusement l'auteur se rattrape bien en partant plus sur des questions de culture et de social. Je trouve fascinant qu'on considère que les épreuves de concours écrites sont une façon d'évaluer neutre (ici contrairement aux épreuves d'oral, potentiellement).
(A lire vite car comme tous les articles du Monde il sera bientôt accessible uniquement aux abonnés.)

This reminds me of yesterday when I was on the bus on my way to UBC. Two couples got on with young boys - the couples knew each other and the entire ride the two moms were looking after the kids, talking about the kids and preschool and all that, while the two dads were standing a few feet back, never had to really pay attention to what was going on with their sons while they discussed work and school. It's a snapshot but it struck me because both couples were really young and I'm sure they would describe themselves as progressive and I'm sure the dads help out and are there for their kids and all of that. But it was striking to me how naturally they were on this bus embodying a very traditional image of parenthood. We think our generation is past the whole gender divide. I think we're just not paying enough attention.

Comments

[ourdramaqueen.livejournal.com]

That reminds me - you might already have seen this article, but in case not... it's very interesting indeed!

[heikki-cheren.livejournal.com]

Children settle into sex-based play preferences only around age 1, which is when they grasp which sex they are, identify strongly with it, and conform to how they see other, usually older, boys or girls behaving. "Preschoolers are already aware of what's acceptable to their peers and what's not," writes Eliot.
Quite annoying... So if you want to escape the system, you can't let your kids go anywhere where young children are supposed to learn how to socialize with their peers.
Unless they only met children who are raised the same way, but even then, it's very hard to achieve, because no matter how willing the adults are, they are biased already.
http://www.guardianweekly.co.uk/?page=editorial&id=843&catID=17

[shiraz_wine]

Another Twilight reference: http://www.punchanpie.net/daily/20090907.html

[heikki-cheren.livejournal.com]

Euh... Pour le deuxième article (qui est loin d'être original, le même genre est pondu plusieurs fois par an), je vois pas où tu vois une allusion au cerveau?

[shiraz_wine]

I can't remember if you had heard about Caster Semenya, the South African runner who's so good that the International Association of Athletics Federation ordered a gender test to determine if she was actually a woman? Well, the South African magazine You gave her a makeover. Now Semenya says, "I didn't do this to prove a point but rather to have fun. I don't give a damn what people say about me. I like me the way I am, and who cares what other people say?" But come on, people. Would that magazine have jumped at the chance at giving her a makeover if her gender wasn't being questioned? And at age 18, between going to school and training, she says that she doesn't get to dress up or put on makeup. Even if you are competing in World Championships, somebody should be making sure that she gets the time to have some fun too.

Also, have you seen The Princess and the Frog trailer?

[heikki-cheren.livejournal.com]

Actually, for me, putting on makeup or dressing up doesn't sound like fun at all. ;)
That's juste a matter of point of view.

[shiraz_wine]

I didn't mean that putting on makeup or dressing up were the only ways to have fun, but she states that she did the makeover as a way to have fun. If she finds putting on makeup and dressing up to be fun, why can't she do that and also be a runner? She's 18 years old and she has to wait for a magazine to try to up their readership in order to have some fun?

And I like dressing up every once in a blue moon, but putting on makeup is only fun if it's for Rocky Horror Picture Show! :D

[greenie-breizh.livejournal.com]

I know I'm going to be banging my head against the wall a lot when an article includes the phrase "than a normal female" within its first paragraph.

UGH.

[shiraz_wine]

This restored a little of my faith in humanity: "Our legal advice is that, if she proves to have an advantage because of the male hormones, then it will be extremely difficult to strip the medal off her, since she has not cheated," Davies wrote to the AP. "She was naturally made that way, and she was entered in Berlin by her team and accepted by the IAAF. But let's wait and see once we have the final decision."

It's not perfect, but it's a step in the right direction. Also, IAAF said that they would meet privately with Semenya to discuss her (actual) results.

[shiraz_wine]

I can't believe they used the word 'hermaphrodite' in print! In fact, I don't agree with a lot of the language in that article. The whole tone of it is just revelation in the fact that suspicions were proven right. "We THOUGHT something was wrong with her! She should go get herself fixed now!"

And having internal testes is NOT so potentially dangerous in that she needs to get them removed. Since she has a higher level of testosterone than most women, she would just need to get regularly checked by a doctor to make sure no abnormal cells develop and turn into cancer. But they're making it sound like she would die tomorrow if she didn't get them removed.

It sucks to have so much media attention at the age of 18. Also, I thought the IAAF wasn't allowed to reveal the results of her tests; "The results will not be made public because, unlike a doping case, it is considered a medical matter requiring patient confidentiality." IAAF also "has confirmed that, whatever the result of the gender test, she will not be stripped of her gold medal."

Edit: Ah, she may or may not actually be intersexed. IAAF has not officially released the results of her testing yet.

[greenie-breizh.livejournal.com]

Glad to report CNN is both letting its reporters use the word hermaphrodite and having experts comment on how the word is inappropriate. *facepalm*

[greenie-breizh.livejournal.com]

Considering the timing and circumstances of the article, I find it hard to trust that this is really what she thinks and wants rather than what she's been strongly advised to do and say. Obviously if she finds make-up fun she should get to do it, but this is not coming out now for no reason.

Possibly I'm too cynical.

[shiraz_wine]

I don't find it so hard to believe that she wasn't able to do things like dress up or put on makeup before now. In other countries, sports programs can be run very differently. Just last week, a story was published about a Chinese table tennis champion finally being allowed to date at the age of 25. And South Africa is definitely known for its runners, so I could see her having a lot of societal pressure to train, go to school, and do nothing else.

Also, she may or may not actually be intersexed - IAAF has not officially released the results of her testing yet.

[greenie-breizh.livejournal.com]

It's not that I have trouble believing she wasn't allowed to do this before - I have no problem believing trainers and coaches force young athletes to live spartan lives. I simply have trouble believing it's a coincidence that she would come out and say that when her gender has been under public scrutiny. I have trouble believing that these are her words, not because they sound unlikely for her to say, but because they are so obviously a very conventional and defensive response in the context of your gender being questioned.

But more than being doubtful about how much is her truth and how much is her publicist's, I simply dislike the timing of it. I mean it's not the kind of discourse that I would particularly like any other time "look I'm an athlete but I'm a woman too!", but in her case I find it particularly sickening. Leave her the fuck alone. I don't care if she likes to put on make-up or not, she should get to do it if she likes it, and it shouldn't tell us anything about whether or not she's "really" a woman.

(Just so we're clear - not annoyed at you, but at this entire thing :)

[shiraz_wine]

Not at all, that's exactly what I pointed out in my original comment - But come on, people. Would that magazine have jumped at the chance at giving her a makeover if her gender wasn't being questioned? Whether she likes to dress up or not, the timing is disgusting. That magazine was clearly capitalizing on the media attention to up their sales at Semenya's expense.

The comments about her not being able to have fun sort of stem from our HSM discussions - kids not being able to do the things they like because of societal pressure and media attention. I just feel bad for any kid (When did 18 year olds become kids to me?) who has to go through that level of media attention, and it's even worse when it's something that should clearly be a private, personal matter.