The Gender Thing

The main reason I'm writing this is so I can just point people to this entry when The Gender Thing comes up. I consider gender to be largely irrelevant in my own life (except for a few minor practical concerns) but apparently it is a Really Big Deal to a whole lot of people. And in "transhumanist circles" (if such things can even be said to exist), I often encounter questions like, "Why aren't there more female transhumanists?" and, "How can we get more women interested in radical longevity?"

First of all, my being female does not mean I "understand women". I've never tended to group people along gender lines anyway -- my brain tends to classify people according to what their major interests / preferred discussion topics are. Mainly because I primarily relate to people through particular interests, I suppose. As a youngster, if asked what my criteria for a friend was, I'd have not hesitated in saying, "They have to like Star Wars!" My interests have gravitated more toward science fact than science fantasy over the years, but I definitely still seek interaction based on topics and facts.

So, to anyone who asks me either "Why aren't there more female transhumanists?" or "How can we get more women interested in radical longevity?", my answer is the same: your guess is as good as mine. I can't even wrap my mind around the idea of really classifying people according to "masculine" and "feminine" traits -- I know a lot of people do, but I'm quite hard-pressed to come up with anything above the chromosome level that is "inherently" gendered. That just isn't how I think of people. Honestly. As far as I'm concerned, maleness and femaleness are about as significant as which public restroom one chooses to use -- that is, something which has a few physical consequences, but nothing that really allows for other assumptions to be made about the individual.

I've seen a bit of a trend recently (especially since I'm a woman working in engineering, one of those supposedly "male dominated" industries) toward statements like, "Well, we need to get more women involved in (engineering, science, business, etc.) because 'they' bring unique qualities to the (workplace, laboratory, school) like compassion, networking ability, multitasking skill, etc."

I understand that this is supposed to be an attempt at inclusion, or diversity encouragement, or some other corporate buzzword, but I find it unnerving -- because I, and probably plenty of other women out there, just don't fit the stereotypes, even the ones that are supposedly being embraced as positives. For example, my performance degrades heavily under multitasking situations. I am much more effective when given a single assignment or subject and the time and opportunity to delve into all the details. And as far as "networking" goes, this word evokes images of flashing LEDs on hubs and rolls of shiny blue CAT-5 cable.

Any sort of "social" connections I ever end up making are on the basis of a shared (often intense) interest. Small talk is not in my nature: last year, my cubicle-neighbor asked me, "How are you doing?" and I answered with a list of all the projects I was working on, since when I'm at work, my state of being is entirely entwined with my tasks. After hearing the List, my neighbor clarified his question: "I said HOW are you doing, not WHAT are you doing!" It's been explained to me that the "How are you?" question isn't a real inquiry, but some sort of ritualistic greeting, to which I'm supposed to answer "fine" regardless of what is really going on.

None of this makes much sense to me at all, but as someone with a uterus and two X chromosomes, apparently I'm supposed to "get" this sort of thing inherently.

Even though it's probably well meant to say things like, "We need more women in engineering because they have good people skills" or "We need more female transhumanists because we'd benefit from a 'softer' perspective", I still find this to be confusing and irritating. So, if I happen to be a woman, but I don't have the supposedly "useful female traits", what does that mean? Well, so far it seems to mean that people tell me things like, "You think just like a man!" I got this from a co-worker a few years ago, who insisted it was a compliment. I guess it was in a way, but at the same time it seems weird. Why can't I think the way I think and still be 100% female? I don't think "like a man", I think like me.

That's why I get annoyed when I hear, "We need more of this type of person because they will bring X, Y, and Z into our community." Well, not all people of this "type" HAVE X, Y, or Z to begin with. It doesn't make sense to say you need more women in a company because they can supposedly multitask better -- or that you need more female transhumanists because of some sort of overwhelming "cold male logic" that's threatening to swallow the entire philosophy in a tide of freezing testosterone.

There's nothing inherently male about being logical, being intellectual, or being good at math. Perhaps there are some statistical trends in this respect, but looking only at statistics tends to neglect individual variation.

Often times, especially online, I enter discussions without revealing my gender. I do like to reveal it eventually because I think it's important to let people know that we -- female transhumanists -- DO exist, and that we're not in this whole thing because of some weird analogy to motherhood or nurturing. Some of us really do like hard science and intellectual discourse, and it's a bit insulting to somehow tie this all back to our uteruses. So far I haven't been personally insulted in any of the progressive / transhumanist forums I've participated in, but I have experienced the sensation of people being shocked that I exist.

I recently learned the term, "postgender". This is a possible outgrowth of transhumanism, overall cultural evolution, and technology that allows people to either have complete control over whether to reveal their gender at all (as in the case of the Internet), or blend / change / mix physical attributes and pronouns to the extent that there's no binary left at all. Personally, I like the idea of gender being a choice rather than some sort of forced destiny.

I know some people identify strongly with, and get pleasure from, "living" a very feminine or very masculine role (which may or may not match the equipment they were born with). This should definitely be an option, but "choice" is inherent in "option". To me, being female just means I have certain physical features and use a bathroom with a particular symbol on the door. It doesn't mean I love shopping (I hate it -- if I have to go into a store I go right for what I want, buy it and leave. With the exception of bookstores and hardware stores). It doesn't mean I need to breed. It doesn't affect which colors I like, which movies I like, or which games I prefer. It just, well, is.

I don't know if I'd consider myself "postgender" -- but I'm definitely "post gender role".*

My boyfriend is quite OK with this. Especially when it comes to my agreeing that yes, it is a really good idea to get that $150 drill press.

And now that I've gotten that out of the way, I can get back to reading (and writing) about more interesting things.

*except for the bit about liking dark chocolate a whole lot.