is it easier for a woman to live as a man than for a man to live as a woman?
I don't know about easier, but I'd say more acceptable-in-the-sense-of-understandable. If male is the default--which it is--then wanting to be the default "makes sense" both in the past and even today. Whereas, to want to be the not-default is to say you want to be the weaker, lesser thing. Why, the world asks, is that the case? The world doesn't understand, gets threatened, and violence and lack of acceptance ensues. (Not to say that females living as males were/are accepted either, but when *they're* not accepted, it's in a we're-guarding-our-ranks-against-intruders way, not in a why-in-the-world-would-you-want-to-be-this-lesser-thing way
( ... )
Also, about girls being able to do "boy" things... I do have reservations about all the female pirates, soldiers, warriors, assassins, vampire killers etc that appear in modern SF and fantasy. Not because they're unbelievable or unhistorical but because yet again, women have to do male activities to be deemed interesting. Yes, there were women who fought and did heroic things, but they were a minority, so the work and lives of the majority are still regarded as uninteresting and not fit for turning into fiction.
Otherwise women's stories seem to be all about their relationships with men, whether it's romance novels or lit fic.
Some recent historical discourse perhaps. We're finally waking up to the fact that women's stories are something amazing. Queen Henrietta Maria from my period in the 17th century for instance- wife, mother, religous rebel, art patron and gun runner extraordinaire! :o)
She's all to often been remembered only for the triple sins of being foreign, Catholic and female!
One of my local B&N stores hired a transgendered woman a decade ago. I applaude them for this and, at the time, it had to have been more of a challenge for them.
She loved speculative fiction, so we spoke often when I checked out. I told her I was a writer and she offered to read some of my work, but we never got that far. (My fault, not hers.)
She was average height and rather petite, but she did still possess masculine traits and, like you, I found myself checking my word choices before I spoke. I accepted her, totally. She was wonderful. But, something in my brain still "translated" for me, to make sure I didn't say something unintentionaly offensive.
I lost track of her after that store closed a few years back, which makes me sad.
I have often wondered how to turn how brain learned to respond to people as a child off, and allow it to evolve to suit ever-changing cultural situations.
"Are women seen as weaker than men? Lesser? Disquieting questions. "
I think you have to be very careful when using passive constructions on issues like this. Meanings and values don't just float in the ether, they exist in people's heads, specific people's heads.
Another source on that subject is the book A Cavalry Maiden, written by a young woman who went off to join the Polish uhlan cavalry in the Napoleonic Wars. Nadezhda Andreyevna Durova reportedly so impressed the tsar that he gave her official permission to serve in the army. Apparently Pushkin later encouraged her to publish her autobiography.
Julie Wheelwright's: 'Amazons and Miliitary Maids' is a fun light read, although I can recommend much heavier weight academic discourses if you're interested?
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I don't know about easier, but I'd say more acceptable-in-the-sense-of-understandable. If male is the default--which it is--then wanting to be the default "makes sense" both in the past and even today. Whereas, to want to be the not-default is to say you want to be the weaker, lesser thing. Why, the world asks, is that the case? The world doesn't understand, gets threatened, and violence and lack of acceptance ensues. (Not to say that females living as males were/are accepted either, but when *they're* not accepted, it's in a we're-guarding-our-ranks-against-intruders way, not in a why-in-the-world-would-you-want-to-be-this-lesser-thing way ( ... )
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Also, about girls being able to do "boy" things... I do have reservations about all the female pirates, soldiers, warriors, assassins, vampire killers etc that appear in modern SF and fantasy. Not because they're unbelievable or unhistorical but because yet again, women have to do male activities to be deemed interesting. Yes, there were women who fought and did heroic things, but they were a minority, so the work and lives of the majority are still regarded as uninteresting and not fit for turning into fiction.
Otherwise women's stories seem to be all about their relationships with men, whether it's romance novels or lit fic.
Or am I missing some good stuff somewhere?
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She's all to often been remembered only for the triple sins of being foreign, Catholic and female!
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She loved speculative fiction, so we spoke often when I checked out. I told her I was a writer and she offered to read some of my work, but we never got that far. (My fault, not hers.)
She was average height and rather petite, but she did still possess masculine traits and, like you, I found myself checking my word choices before I spoke. I accepted her, totally. She was wonderful. But, something in my brain still "translated" for me, to make sure I didn't say something unintentionaly offensive.
I lost track of her after that store closed a few years back, which makes me sad.
I have often wondered how to turn how brain learned to respond to people as a child off, and allow it to evolve to suit ever-changing cultural situations.
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I assume you were up to cis = not trans?
Although personally, I'd prefer it if we labelled all women 'woman'.....
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I think you have to be very careful when using passive constructions on issues like this. Meanings and values don't just float in the ether, they exist in people's heads, specific people's heads.
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