Author Archives: MeiQi Chen

The Gender Binary

Before we came into contact with the Internet, we had no idea what gender duality was, and we were even a little curious about why that man had breasts, and that this woman had strong body hair because of hormones. To quote a passage from Beyond the Gender Binary “The gender binary is more concerned with gender norms than it is with us. We are led to believe that there are only two genders, “man” and “woman,” and these genders are narrow, separate, ard opposite. We are taught from a very young age that: this is how things have always been and this is the only way to live. We are taught that masculinity belongs to men, femininity belongs to women, and that these are the only two options for self-expression.” (page 27) We have been told since childhood that boys and girls how to protect themselves, girls are different from boys.

However, when I contacted the Internet, I gradually learned a lot of things and knew a lot of knowledge. Especially I like a host who is also a dancer. His/her name is Jin Xing. He/she is a transgender person. I like him/her because of his/her personality. I have never slandered him/her just because he/she is a transgender person, and I will not talk or even lash out at each other because of refreshing my three views like others.

Response 1

CELINA WEVER was right. Just like she said, we girls can’t go out at night, but boys can. Just because in the eyes of the bad guys, we girls are fragile and can easily get and hurt. In the old society, women were supposed to be married to each other and teach children, but men could go to work. If we show our faces, we will be ridiculed like the emperor’s new clothes. But as the times are slowly changing, we women have done a lot of things that their men have not done, or even can’t. Such as childbirth, breastfeeding, etc. What’s more, the bad guys we mentioned earlier think that women are easy to succeed, but they are often unsatisfactory. There are many reports that some bad guys are knocked down by women when they want to rob or sexually assault women.

Snapshot 1

In FEMINISM IS FOR EVERYBODY explores feminist views on issues such as women, sex, sexual orientation, fertility, marriage, partnerships, and parenting, as well as views on female beauty and masculinity. Hooks emphasized the criticality of feminist theories, especially the self-critical consciousness of feminism. She combined gender with class, race, and other power relationships for thinking, analyzed the differences within feminism, and analyzed love based on unequal gender relationships and feminists’ demands for love.
In Sex & Gender 101, it is said that gender identity refers to how a person thinks about themselves about gender. Gender distribution and gender identity do not always “match”. If a person feels that their gender identity matches their gender distribution, they will be considered cisgender. For example, if a person feels that their gender identity does not match their gender distribution, they may think that they are transgender, or gender-queer, or non-dual, or gender inconsistent. The gender pronouns someone uses are an aspect of gender identity—whether someone wants to be called “she” or “he”, or use neutral pronouns such as “Z” or “they, they, and them.”
After I read the two articles, I feel that gender is very important for each of us, and the times are evolving now. Some of us were girls when we were born, but as we grow up, we will have mental thoughts and want to change gender. Nowadays, some people are discriminated against because of homosexuality, and some people are also discriminated against because of transgender. But in my opinion, these changes are all normal. Why should we discriminate against others based on our own opinions?