The internet is a scary place.
My dad and I were watching something together on TV and this commercial came on. My dad is usually a man of few words, and is a pretty traditionally gender-conforming guy at that. So it surprised me when at the end of the commercial he turned and said, “Isn’t that weird? That’s what guys want?” Yes, Dad. It is more than weird—this kind of strange man pandering in ads has been on my radar for awhile.
Action sequences usually bore me, by the way. Even if they’re set in space (as you will learn, my entertainment bread and butter.) I must be really bad at being a dude, huh?
While setting up my YouTube account for upcoming blogs I plan to do, I tried to skirt this silly little issue. My question is, if it’s so important for YouTube to know your gender, why only provide two options? I would also suggest using the word “sex” rather than “gender” for this aspect of the profile, but when it comes down to it, I don’t think just two choices would cover it.
Hello reader,
Perhaps you have found this blog because you know me IRL (that’s “in real life” for those of you who don’t speak dork) and I sent you an email telling you to check out my new blarg. Maybe you’re here because of a link from a friend’s blog, or through the simple magic of Google search (though if you actually searched “how to be a dude” I doubt this was what you had in mind). Regardless, I’d like to give each and every one of you a little insight into the purpose of this blog before you start to ask yourself things like, “Why are there random YouTube clips from the Muppets AND dense writing about queer theory on the same website?” The secret lies in my genius mind.
I think a good place to begin is telling you a little bit about who I am, or at least who I will be on this forum. As stated on my About the Author page, I’m a 25-year-old female-to-male guy living in San Fransisco, though I’m originally from the Midwest. I moved to the Bay Area after graduating from a university near Chicago in 2008, and have been working in social services while I bide my time before going to grad school since that time. I’ll be going by the name “KP” here in order to preserve anonymity with folks I don’t know (so people who do know my full name, take note!). In future posts, I’ll provide more info about my background and my gender odyssey so that experiences that have shaped my beliefs will be transparent. For now, I’ll stick with an overview of what kinds of things I’ll be discussing so as not to make this introductory post exceedingly long.
What you will find in this blog:
- photos, videos, and audio files in which I talk about my transition from being female to being male
- musings on what goes on in my daily life as I transition
- reflections on the portrayal of gender(s) in film, television shows, books, and ad campaigns
- links to news stories, scholarly articles, and other blogs that I find interesting—most likely related to gender/queer politics and/or religion
- the occasional (or, as the case may be, gratuitous) reference to Star Wars
Regardless of how it’s packaged, the theme that will come up most on this blog will be general reflections on how I’m measuring up—how we’re all measuring up—to the standards put forth by society telling all of us how to be male and female. This will be a place where the often-damaging messages being sent will be put to the test—by someone who’s ostensibly moving from “one side” of the gender binary to “the other.”
Please know that comments and discussion on any and all posts are welcome and encouraged—I want this to be a space where people can ask questions, disagree, and learn to think about the world in a different way. Thanks for accompanying me on this journey.
