Hello Module Three!
Anyone who really knows me will know I'm awful at blogging! It is not a natural go-to for me and one of my biggest failings (or succeedings) in life is that once I get started on something, I just can't stop. This is both demonstrated by my inability to get round to blogging...and my lengthy blogs that go on, because I then can't stop!
I didn't know how to start this Module 3 blog as I've been keeping my own notes on how thoughts are developing over the summer - I would say on a separate document but in reality they are scattered across my whole life leaving a small trail of where i've been for someone to find!... Anyway, this lead me to re-read my past blogs and honestly it is so strange to go back now and hear your 'voice' but from a different perspective. I mean, how did I sound so wise (if I do say so myself) during a time of complete confusion hahahahah. It's all a front, like a duck paddling on water, underneath it's manic!
I will try to be more succinct now with my points, however hear me out, this has reached a level of complexity that I need help with exploring...
A controversial question I've been wondering over this last week of discovery and reading.
What is Gender?
I've been reading and discussing the idea of Gender in relation to my inquiry about 'Female roles in Shakespeare' and the big thing that keeps coming up is the difference between 'biological gender' and 'personality gender', which of course leads to the position of transgender, non-binary and gender non-conformist, a massive massive topic which I can only just scrape the surface off.
My big controversial question/idea to explore now is:
In my very limited experience (and this may be where everything falls down, please feel free to come back to me on this one) but.... in my very limited experience of the LBGTQIA community one word or phrase that I hear so often is the idea of 'constraints'. Not feeling comfortable with certain constraints. Feeling constrained by a gender. Feeling constrained by society. The other words that often come up are 'unaccepted' and 'accepted'.
These words also came up in conversation with a friend I recently engaged in. She identifies biologically as female but androgynously in personality. She has a wealth of experience in playing both typically 'male' and 'female' written parts in Shakespeare as they were traditionally written. She expressed, when playing Richard iii that she felt 'free', that the constraints that are there in the 'female' gendered roles are not there when she plays the 'male' gendered roles and the conversation then also developed to touch on areas of feminism and patriarchy. -Now of course with Shakespeare there is historical context that cannot be ignored however...
Having mulled that over a bit I have come to question, are the 'constraints' really gone or has she not yet viewed the constraints of Richard the iii as being constraints on 'males'? (Because I cannot believe there are no constraints) Or maybe she feels the constraints are not comparable, imbalanced, not as restricting...?
This lead me to question
Do we all have constraints? we must? Transgender works both ways so there must be a feeling of constraint from both biological genders.
What if there were no constraints... If everyone were equal (Which is also an aspect of Feminism) then these constraints would, theoretically, not exist? So, if all constraints were gone and therefore everyone was accepted, gender constraints would not be a thing? How does this affect transgender? Would transgender disappear. Is LBGTQIA a product of, a response to, to a society full of constraints and judgement?
Now we enter the world of patriarchy and patriarchal structures of society! Is that the root of or the cause of our modern day constraints.......? IS it a thing!?
My mind can't take any more today. I am so overwhelmingly aware that I do not know enough on any of these topics and feel a race against time trying to learn and understand them.... This is module 3!
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, if anyone has something to say on this I would love to hear your stance, your position, your criticism, your answers, your response!
An interesting article I recently read on these topics:
