Reading: Kate Bornstein

Something this blog hasn't touched on is my views of gender.  To put it plainly, I absolutely detest the dominate culture's limiting binary views on sex and gender.  For example: your chromosomes are XX, so you have to wear a dress; your chromosomes are XY, so you have to play sports--blah, blah, blah.  And what about those of us who have both XX and XY chromosomes?  Or XXY chromosomes?  Do you see how silly it becomes?  It's a gigantic can o' worms...

Anyways, Kate Bornstein pretty much sums up how I feel. I've been reading some of her books:

And then I found this cheer online today, written by the Radical Cheerleaders:

Coming out Day Cheer: CU Boulder Campus Crusade for Queers

"Yo all you girlz; hey all you boyz,

Leave all the stereotypes bring on the toys.

Y'all ready for rhythm y'all ready for rhyme,

Come on everyone it's gender fuck time

Gender, gender, fuck it we say Life's more fun with gender play.

Gender, gender, it's not what's down there,

Assigning strict roles, that ain't fair.

Gender, gender, it's a fluid thing Fuck their rules we're celebrating.

The gender police, What assholes, Forcing us into gender roles.

Just boy or girl is what they are trying to sew, That silly binary has got to go.

If I wanna wear whitey -tighties with my dress, Who are you messing with my happiness? If I wanna wear high heals and I got a dick, Leave me alone, don't be a gender prick.

So I've got short hair and a big strap-on, You have no right saying its wrong.

Gender, gender, fuck it we say Life's more fun with gender play.

Gender, gender, it's not what's down there, Assigning strict roles, that ain't fair.

Gender, gender, it's a fluid thing Fuck their rules we're celebrating.

BUTCH FEMME FAG DYKE Be who you are dress how you like.

OVERALLS LIPSTICK PANTIES TIES Don't be the gender police in disguise. PRETTY CUTE HANDSOME TOO The secret is, JUST BE YOU

Gender, gender, fuck it we say Life's more fun with gender play.

Gender, gender, it's not what's down there, Assigning strict roles, that ain't fair.

Gender, gender, it's a fluid thing Fuck their rules we're celebrating.

I say fuck, you say gender FUCK, GENDER (2x)

I say gender, you say fuck GENDER, FUCK (2x)

I say gender, you say queer GENDER, QUEER (2x) what'd you say? QUEER!! Coming out Day Cheer: CU Boulder Campus Crusade for Queers


Yo all you girlz; hey all you boyz,

Leave all the stereotypes bring on the toys.

Y'all ready for rhythm y'all ready for rhyme,

Come on everyone it's gender fuck time

Gender, gender, fuck it we say Life's more fun with gender play.

Gender, gender, it's not what's down there,

Assigning strict roles, that ain't fair.

Gender, gender, it's a fluid thing Fuck their rules we're celebrating.

The gender police, What assholes, Forcing us into gender roles.

Just boy or girl is what they are trying to sew, That silly binary has got to go.

If I wanna wear whitey -tighties with my dress, Who are you messing with my happiness? If I wanna wear high heals and I got a dick, Leave me alone, don't be a gender prick.

So I've got short hair and a big strap-on, You have no right saying its wrong.

Gender, gender, fuck it we say Life's more fun with gender play.

Gender, gender, it's not what's down there, Assigning strict roles, that ain't fair.

Gender, gender, it's a fluid thing Fuck their rules we're celebrating.

BUTCH FEMME FAG DYKE Be who you are dress how you like.

OVERALLS LIPSTICK PANTIES TIES Don't be the gender police in disguise. PRETTY CUTE HANDSOME TOO The secret is, JUST BE YOU

Gender, gender, fuck it we say Life's more fun with gender play.

Gender, gender, it's not what's down there, Assigning strict roles, that ain't fair.

Gender, gender, it's a fluid thing Fuck their rules we're celebrating.

I say fuck, you say gender FUCK, GENDER (2x)

I say gender, you say fuck GENDER, FUCK (2x)

I say gender, you say queer GENDER, QUEER (2x) what'd you say? QUEER!! "

 
It made me smile.  ;)



Love this pic!



Book - "The Singularity is Near"

This book by futurist Ray Kurzweil is absolutely mind blowing!  I mean, I think you have to be kind of a science geek to really get into it, but I'll tell you about it anyways...  Kurzweil wrote this 652-page doorstop (harhar) to help us imagine the future, synthesizing our current technologies & predicting the developing ones, by explaining the practical applications.

Is this how you picture nanobots?

A lot of the book is about nanotechnology, which for me is the totally trippy part.  We are currently developing microscopic robots that mimic the functions of our own body's cells--blood cells, pancreatic cells, respiratory cells.  Do you realize the implications of this kind of technology?  No more diseases!  Because the teeny tiny robots swimming around in your body will fix all that!

This is not a joke, or some fairytale.

Kurzweil says, "Nanoscale scaffolds have been used to grow biological tissues such as skin.  Future therapies could use these tiny scaffolds to grow any type of tissue needed for repairs inside the body" (242).  ...Which theoretically means we'll be able to live forever!

This is a cell.

How exciting is that?  I'd love to hear what you think.

TOMS - One for One

At first, I thought TOMS was just a gimmick to make white middle-class consumers feel good about buying an over-priced pair of shoes...  But that was before I read about the creator of TOMS, Blake Mycoskie.  He's an amazing person, and I was so impressed by him that I read his book, "Start Something That Matters."  The book explains Blake's business model, which somewhat improves the "evils" of capitalism.  His story made me inspired to do my own charitable business kind of thing--I re-opened my Etsy shop and decided to donate 50% of the sale price of each item to my chosen organization.

Generate Hope is the organization that I chose because it's based in San Diego and it helps women who are victims of sex-trafficking, which is a cause I'm passionate about.  I feel like, now knowing what the abused women go through, how could I not help prostitutes?  It's something that pulls at my heart.

It's more common than you think.

Now, I want to write a letter to Blake and buy TOMS for everyone I know.  I want to spread his story to all who will listen!  I would even love to work for TOMS, but I don't know what the chances of that are...  What I am going to do is organize a "One Day Without Shoes" group to promote his compassionate message.

http://www.onedaywithoutshoes.com/photowall

All I need now is my own pair...  Luckily, I dug up a Nordstrom's gift card that I had been saving for something special.  My TOMS will arrive in the mail any day!

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