Margery Eagan is aghast that kids today swear like sailors. Why, back in her day, kids NEVER swore! And they walked uphill both ways in a blizzard to school. And they liked it!
I see, well in my day my GRANDMOTHER taught me the most choice swears there were and when to use them. Meanwhile, news commentators in the olden days actually, you know, commented on the news rather than, say, how f&*kable the president's pre-teen daughter was or how they were sorry they did what they formerly said should draw a death penalty?
Gee, here I thought that having an x chromosome or two, female secondary sex characteristics, and primary female genitalia was what made one "look like a woman".
I didn't realize that I was deficient in having a makeup gene that made me a woman.
What next, a burka? Some cultures think scarves make a woman ... invisible.
By eeka not logged in on Mon, 02/18/2008 - 5:43pm.
While I agree that the original comment was stupid and sexist, I think that being "female" is a matter of how one identifies and presents. If someone presents and identifies as female, I'm not going to ask to see their chromosomes before I respect how they wish to identify -- I'm going to just use the name and identity and pronouns that they say make them the most comfortable.
By eeka not logged in on Mon, 02/18/2008 - 6:13pm.
That's not what I said!
If someone identifies as female, it's not up to me whether they have XX or XY or XXY or XXX or X or XYY. I have no business asking them or treating them based on my assumptions of their chromosomes or genitalia. Likewise if they identify as male.
We should respect their gender identity without needing to know anything about their chromosomes (unless someone's at the endocrinologist or other place where it is important to know their chromosomal makeup in order to interpret data).
In Boston, Cambridge, and Northampton, it's illegal to discriminate based on gender identity or gender presentation. If someone consistently presents as a gender (through name, pronoun usage, restroom usage, etc.), then that's the gender employers and places of public accommodation and school officials need to also use in regards to the person. In the rest of the state, there aren't specific laws (yet) regarding gender identity, but people with atypical gender identity have successfully sued using sex discrimination laws.
In fact, I distinctly recall a transitioning male-to-female coworker confessing that she finally realized that heavy makeup didn't make her look more womanly, but more like a man trying too hard to look womanly.
(so yes, I do understand your comments on identity not same as chromosomes, but I don't think I excluded that possibility to begin with)
eeka did a sociological experiment this past Halloween in which she went all-out girly in her dress, hair and makeup. Results were interesting; I'll let her either explain or link or whatever.
I very rarely wear makeup any more; I'm just not that skilled at it, and it makes my skin break out...I then look less like a woman and more like a teenaged girl, which isn't a look I'm particularly going for at this point in my life.
Comments
Sounds like a bunch of
Sounds like a bunch of bullshit to me.
Where two positives make a negative
Here's where I'm suppose to claim that kids in Weston don't swear. Yeah, right.
The O'Really Retort
I see, well in my day my GRANDMOTHER taught me the most choice swears there were and when to use them. Meanwhile, news commentators in the olden days actually, you know, commented on the news rather than, say, how f&*kable the president's pre-teen daughter was or how they were sorry they did what they formerly said should draw a death penalty?
Margery Eagan
Just once I would like to see Margery Eagan at the makeup counter at the Chestnut Hill Mall at least attempting to make herself look like a woman.
Another argument for banning anonymous posts
Hey, anonymous...if you want to crack
ugly on somebody else's looks please
be sure to include a photo of
yourself so we can all return the favor.
Makeup is anatomical?
Gee, here I thought that having an x chromosome or two, female secondary sex characteristics, and primary female genitalia was what made one "look like a woman".
I didn't realize that I was deficient in having a makeup gene that made me a woman.
What next, a burka? Some cultures think scarves make a woman ... invisible.
Yes and no
While I agree that the original comment was stupid and sexist, I think that being "female" is a matter of how one identifies and presents. If someone presents and identifies as female, I'm not going to ask to see their chromosomes before I respect how they wish to identify -- I'm going to just use the name and identity and pronouns that they say make them the most comfortable.
Ya mean ...
most people walking the earth don't have an x chromosome?
Not having one is actually fatal.
Is that an X chromosome, or are you just happy to see me?
That's not what I said!
If someone identifies as female, it's not up to me whether they have XX or XY or XXY or XXX or X or XYY. I have no business asking them or treating them based on my assumptions of their chromosomes or genitalia. Likewise if they identify as male.
We should respect their gender identity without needing to know anything about their chromosomes (unless someone's at the endocrinologist or other place where it is important to know their chromosomal makeup in order to interpret data).
In Boston, Cambridge, and Northampton, it's illegal to discriminate based on gender identity or gender presentation. If someone consistently presents as a gender (through name, pronoun usage, restroom usage, etc.), then that's the gender employers and places of public accommodation and school officials need to also use in regards to the person. In the rest of the state, there aren't specific laws (yet) regarding gender identity, but people with atypical gender identity have successfully sued using sex discrimination laws.
Regardless
One doesn't need makeup to "look like a woman".
In fact, I distinctly recall a transitioning male-to-female coworker confessing that she finally realized that heavy makeup didn't make her look more womanly, but more like a man trying too hard to look womanly.
(so yes, I do understand your comments on identity not same as chromosomes, but I don't think I excluded that possibility to begin with)
Makeup as sociology
eeka did a sociological experiment this past Halloween in which she went all-out girly in her dress, hair and makeup. Results were interesting; I'll let her either explain or link or whatever.
I very rarely wear makeup any more; I'm just not that skilled at it, and it makes my skin break out...I then look less like a woman and more like a teenaged girl, which isn't a look I'm particularly going for at this point in my life.
When a woman starts putting
When a woman starts putting on makeup as a sociology experiment, it's time to just buy 10 cats and get it over with. I mean that in a nice way.
...what? No, really, why do
...what?
No, really, why do you say that? Because on the surface, it certainly doesn't make any sense whatsoever.
which is why he/she is
which is why he/she is posting as anonymous.
Since it's actually somewhat
Since it's actually somewhat related to Boston, and germane to the article:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJBxLL8YkTI