Letters to the Editor
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Interesting reactions.
This subject isn't going mainstream anytime soon. The reactions of two of the three posters before me is indicative of the level of hysteria surrounding this subject. But those letters shouldn't be written off as hatemail, for they both contain valid points beneath the vitriol. It's true: men are confused by the increasing and contradictory array of traits demanded of them in the name of gender equality, and the lesbian community has a definite Janice Raymond, "trans-women are men attempting to subvert female space and feminsim for the ends of patriarchy," way of thinking, which seems to be commonly held.
It's an interesting subject, and as a lesbian woman I am more and more realizing that gender roles are less inherent than they are cultural imperatives, designed to keep people in line. After all, our culture is held together through a series of accepted rules about actions and thought. The most basic of those surround gender. To challenge those imperatives is to challenge everything we thought was true.
But I think this Newsweek article is a good thing. The more varied the gender expression in our culture, the better it is for all of us. The old gender rules no longer serve us.
The king is dead. Long live the queen!