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A rant about supporting people because of their gender


Charlotte Holmes

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Charlotte Holmes

How much should gender influence identity? I know some people who follow very strict gender roles. I know people who identify as all different genders, and I respect their identities. But I don't feel comfortable with my gender being a big part of my identity. I don't want to be "female artist," I just want to be " artist. " I think that's what a lot of people want, to be recognized for their accomplishments, regardless of gender, right? But sometimes I see an idea on the internet of supporting women just because they're women, liking female characters just because they're female, and I feel kind of patronized. Being a female is just incidental to me. It's not important to me at all. I try to be the best person I can be, but I hate being made to feel like a bad person because I don't automatically support or like anything at all to do with my gender.I

Again, I mean no disrespect to anyone who thinks the opposite. I'm just a little frustrated with these ideals of supporting people based on female-ness shoved down my throat. 

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I'm biased since I kinda hate myself a bit, but I agree. I don't think gender should be as strictly noticed as it is. Especially for trans, gender fluid, agender, or non binary people that don't have strict set or traditional pronouns like "male" and "female". I think if we can just be acknowledged as human beings that should be good enough.

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Celyn: The Lutening

Totally agree. Running with your example, being female probably doesn't make a difference to the art. And even if it did, I think it would be more respectful to say something like "an artist whose work examines womanhood" or something like that.

I think gender should be treated more like disability (OK that sounds weird, what I mean is that it's not a central part of identity). Like, I'm not an "essential tremor patient" I'm a "scientist with essential tremor".

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3 minutes ago, Celyn said:

Totally agree. Running with your example, being female probably doesn't make a difference to the art. And even if it did, I think it would be more respectful to say something like "an artist whose work examines womanhood" or something like that.

I think gender should be treated more like disability (OK that sounds weird, what I mean is that it's not a central part of identity). Like, I'm not an "essential tremor patient" I'm a "scientist with essential tremor".

I agree with this completely. Gender is a small part of a very diverse person and I don't really think it should be the defining part of them. (unless they want it to be???) Your example is a really great one and I wish I'd thought of it first :)

 

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Celyn: The Lutening
2 minutes ago, icyrose said:

Gender is a small part of a very diverse person and I don't really think it should be the defining part of them. (unless they want it to be???

Yes, this is an important caveat to that - if they want it to define them, then that is their identity and needs to be respected.

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Women novelists and writers used to use initials of their first name, or pseudonyms, because they were either not published or criticized because they were female.  It's only recently that female artists of any kind were not considered "female" artists.

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Charlotte Holmes
2 minutes ago, Sally said:

Women novelists and writers used to use initials of their first name, or pseudonyms, because they were either not published or criticized because they were female.  It's only recently that female artists of any kind were not considered "female" artists.

True, and I guess that's why this idea of supporting people based on gender is so backwards to me. We just tried to escape from having our accomplishments being defined by our gender.

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paperbackreader
19 hours ago, Charlotte Holmes said:

How much should gender influence identity? 

As much or little as you'd like it to do. 

 

People and media might wanna market you in a different way to how you wanna be portrayed, and I guess it's about being able to work with people to achieve the outcome you want, and sure, general society might form different opinions etc, but that's just the nature of the diversity of us flesh based peeps...

 

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23 hours ago, Charlotte Holmes said:

How much should gender influence identity?

It shouldn't. I find its a double edge sword, however.

 

Often times its not a problem, if it favors a person. It often only becomes an issue, when it does not. It to me, should always be an issue. Your character, and skill set should always precede your gender and racial identity.

 

I think it will never be seen as an issue however, as long as people can benefit from it due to their gender, race, or via other means.

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WoodwindWhistler
On 4/18/2018 at 10:42 PM, Charlotte Holmes said:

True, and I guess that's why this idea of supporting people based on gender is so backwards to me. We just tried to escape from having our accomplishments being defined by our gender.

But the point of that post was, women were actively *excluded* based on their gender. Now, because there probably are still those forces in play in some corners of the world, people want to make an effort to 'balance' it out. It would be very hard to quantify to what extent this is true, since art can go through so many different distribution channels. It is not as straightforwardly demonstrable as, say, exclusion and social pressure fallout from STEM. So, is it only ART you object to on these grounds? What about other spaces- like politics- where what they are combating are more obvious? 

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  • 3 weeks later...
Artsy Anvil

I agree and understand this 100%. If they were to make a maverique person the main character of a movie or novel, I would want people to remember that person as the main character, not the maverique character. So, I get you. And, I agree with you a lot.

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