As Lee explains his childhood as being born anatomically a boy, but having an interest in typically 'feminine' objects and activities, he concludes that he has gone back and forth between the two genders, never really fully associating with one. This type of person seems to find difficulty being accepted into any group, including the supposedly welcoming homosexual community. Sedgwick's writing explains that often the feminine boy is automatically seen as gay, however, Lee doesn't fit in that category either. Even the gay community sees "gender and sexuality as continuous and collapsible categories" (Sedgwick, 20), which is definitely an unfair statement to make when there are plenty of people, like Lee who don't really believe in this type of categorization.
In Sedgwick's paper, authors of psychiatry Friedman and Green both believe that "the first, imperative developmental task of a male child or his parents and caretakers is to get a properly male Core Gender Identity in place, as a basis for further and perhaps more flexible explorations of what it may be to be masculine" (Sedgiwck, 23). This idea was definitely not implemented during Lee's childhood. Instead, his mother threatened him with the idea of castration, something that made him think about having his 'manhood' stripped away, rather than reinforced. Even if suggested, Friedman and Green's idea is not really a sure fire way of grounding boys in their masculinity because gender and sexuality lines will always be blurry. It is important to begin to see these 'defining' human characteristics as lose rather than strict because everyone falls in a different place in these two areas.
How is Pinky? We need an update.
ReplyDeletePinky is doing well! Like I've mentioned before, her parents are extremely supportive of this transformation, as well as the community around her. I recently learned, however, that despite the fact that she wants to be addressed as a girl, use the girl's restroom, and wear girl's clothing etc, there is still a part of her "male" side that is still intact. She still tells everyone that she is going to marry my younger sister, in what seems to be a somewhat heterosexual way. For my sister, Kiera, she really just thinks of Pinky as a girl, and shows no attraction back to her because Kiera likes boys, and not girls.
ReplyDeletePinky's sister doesn't struggle with any gender identity issues, but again is understanding and accepting of how Pinky wants to live her life. Honestly, she is blessed to be in the place she is. Her parents are definitely not thinking of starting any hormone treatment, as they want Pinky to make that decision for herself when she is old enough. She is getting older though, now 9 years old, and her body is beginning to transform into that of a pre-pubescent boy, which will be a new struggle for her as she enters teen-hood and her body begins to change. I am definitely excited to watch her grow and and really discover herself, and will definitely keep discussing any new updates.