In
general, most of the thoughts people have of what humans "are supposed
to look like" and "are supposed to wear" have nothing to do with the
human you're observing and everything to do with you; how you see an
article of clothing, how you see a represented gender, how you see a
represented culture, how you see. You.
Do you understand how farcical it is to say "This strip of cloth (that is utterly meaningless outside of a human context) must clearly only be for one specific gender of human. And clearly, that style can't possibly change over the course of centuries and millenia and even if it did, what awareness do I need to have of what came before me? Pfah, foolish notion. No, no, what I was brought up with, why, that's the only thing that can possibly be right because somehow, I've never thought to challenge the assumptions I was given and then subsequently programmed to believe."
Do you understand how arbitrary your viewpoint is? Do you understand how... completely, utterly self-fulfilling it is? That it's circular logic?
"These clothes are for X people because these clothes are for X people".
Those clothes are "for" X people because the general social zeitgeist you live in decided that would be the way it is and if you've ever studied history, you know it's usually for the most arbitrary of reasons that have nothing to do with what the flesh of humans cares for and everything to do with social statements.
And I say this while still participating in the system. By and large, I dress what's considered within social norms for my expressed gender. No one gets a choice in choosing the system they interact with, though, not when it comes to society at large.
What we do get to do is this. We can comment on the system as it exists. And I can't/won't tell you how to feel about it, that's on you. If you see something different, say so; we can talk about it.
I mean, that's the whole point, innit?
Do you understand how farcical it is to say "This strip of cloth (that is utterly meaningless outside of a human context) must clearly only be for one specific gender of human. And clearly, that style can't possibly change over the course of centuries and millenia and even if it did, what awareness do I need to have of what came before me? Pfah, foolish notion. No, no, what I was brought up with, why, that's the only thing that can possibly be right because somehow, I've never thought to challenge the assumptions I was given and then subsequently programmed to believe."
Do you understand how arbitrary your viewpoint is? Do you understand how... completely, utterly self-fulfilling it is? That it's circular logic?
"These clothes are for X people because these clothes are for X people".
No.
Those clothes are "for" X people because the general social zeitgeist you live in decided that would be the way it is and if you've ever studied history, you know it's usually for the most arbitrary of reasons that have nothing to do with what the flesh of humans cares for and everything to do with social statements.
And I say this while still participating in the system. By and large, I dress what's considered within social norms for my expressed gender. No one gets a choice in choosing the system they interact with, though, not when it comes to society at large.
What we do get to do is this. We can comment on the system as it exists. And I can't/won't tell you how to feel about it, that's on you. If you see something different, say so; we can talk about it.
I mean, that's the whole point, innit?
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