NON BINARY SJW CRINGE COMPILATION #3 (Special Snowflake Edition)

Like I say, as a 'cis' woman, I don't know what to make of all this - I learned about these people (non-binary, trans, 'genderqueer' etc when I was studying sociology.

However, when I was in my teens and still attending High School, people who looked like the 'opposite' sex (e.g. didn't look like 'blokey blokes' or 'girly girls') were called 'gender benders'. Often, these people were rock stars (or other entertainers) like David Bowie, Alice Cooper, Kiss, and many of the 1970's 'glam rock singers', as well as alot of the singers during the 1980's and 1990's - Prince, Brett Michaels (Poison), Motley Crue, Michael Jackson; others looked more like Transvestites/transgendered/transsexual etc - Marilyn, Marilyn Manson, Joylene Hairmouth (from Jimmy and the Boys), Dead or Alive, and (especially) Boy George. And lets not ignore the females - Annie Lennox (Eurythmics), Skin (Skunk Anansie), Sinhead O'connor, Myley Cyrus, Yazz, Yazoo - the list goes on.

Whether or not, they were actually LGBT or whether they just did it for fun, we actually thought (and could say, without any retribution) that they didn't know whether they were Arthur or Martha.

But what is more interesting is how different cultures have their own take on the issue. For instance, some Native American tribes called them 'two spirit' people - I am guessing this means that they have a male 'spirit' and a 'female' one? Or, it could have been used to 'punish' those who didn't conform to the gender roles in their tribe e.g. young men who weren't up to the task of fighting and/or hunting large animals like bears or bison, and/or couldn't pass any other tests of 'manhood' could have been relegated to the tasks more commonly carried out by women. Watch either the Disney movie, Tonka (where the 'boy', White Bull, is scorned and made to do 'women's work' with his mother, Prairie Flower) or A Man Called Horse, where a white soldier is kidnapped by Sioux Indians, and has to learn 'women's jobs' before finally becoming a 'man' by undergoing the gruelling Sun Dance, amongst other things, and then returns to his own (white) people.

So, maybe, they just simply accepted that males and females didn't always act accordingly. But it was anything *but* airy fairy (if you will excuse the pun) ;) I could do into 'male privilege' and the like (so I will save it for another day) - but like was inherently 'tough' for alot of indigenous peoples, including Native Americans, and it was tougher back in the day for *all* people (but especially so for the more 'primitive' societies.

However, in all seriousness, though - I do know that people don't conform to gender roles as strictly as they used to; and boys who weren't all sporty and 'tough' got called 'sissies' while girls who weren't all 'sugar and spice and all things nice' were called 'tomboys'; and even though people may have made a big deal back then - however, if you wanted to survive, there was no such thing as a 'safe space', or a gender neutral bathroom/toilet (unless it was in your own home).

However, these people have every right to go to the loo, but if they are going to make an issue about what dunnies to use at school or in other public places, then maybe they should go to India, Africa or any other developing nation where people (especially women) aren't always free to go to the loo whenever (or where-ever) they please. Or where heterosexual males have no problem throwing homosexual males under a bus. Then they will think very carefully about what it means to have a 'safe space'.

Anyway, you might think I am making fun of LGBT people, but in all seriousness, I find it quite confronting and amusing at the same time because I can't help but think that some of those people kind of leave themselves open to being bullied.

But then again, it's not really my place to say... I guess...

cheers,
Night Owl