Gender Non Conforming - Video Six - Carolyn

[@carolynminchin4438]

Hi Rivenrock, I guess for me growing up in the 70s with WWII generation parents I experienced limitations in expectations and choices that perhaps don't make so much sense now, fortunately. Reading back over Christine Northrup's Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom names some of those challenges. Not being like other mums is something I really notice when I'm with other mums, it's almost impossible for me to take part in the way mums communicate with each other, I have more of a masculine communication style. I feel like an intruder in women's only circles. The desire to be 'fully human' is about being given the respect to respond in my own way, rather than having to respond to a barrage of assumptions about who I am and what I need to do. Don't worry about the pronouns, I find the 'I thou' a richer way to communicate, and this is all new to me too. The reason I found I needed to speak out about this is that the experience of gender is so rich and diverse, and acknowledging the reality of the spectrum and the range of experiences can help to set us all free from living out a stereotypes.

[@TranzAustralia]

Thank you rivenrock for your comments. I am sure Carolyn will answer them very soon. It is half past midnite here at the mo'. Hope you are finding this channel useful. higz x

[@debbiehoad1850]

I wish people would give a few concrete examples in these videos (a couple of people have). I'm really interested in watching them and understanding the experience of non-gender conforming people, but at the end of this video, I wasn't sure what that was for Carolyn. What does it mean, for example, to work at 'becoming fully human'? What does fully human mean? What's a way she (I'm going with a female pronoun because Carolyn is usually a female-gendered name, sorry if that's wrong) isn't like other mums? What's a time discernment came into play? That kind of thing. I really appreciate that people are willing to share their story and this isn't about criticising their videos. It's about the fact that without examples it can be difficult to understand what someone means when they are using unfamiliar terms and explaining experiences that are far outside your own. Gender is a very straightforward matter for me. Those parts of myself that would maybe fit more stereotypically with male gender or be considered masculine just feel like a part of me. They don't cause me to feel not female or less female or more male or really to think about gender at all. It's easy to get my head around the idea of a transgender person who identifies more on the binary, but opposite to their birth sex, but gender fluidity or being agender still feels really counter-intuitive. But of course that's my issue, based on just how simplistic my experience with gender has been, and I don't need to understand gender non-conformity to accept it or to believe people's experiences, but I would like to try to understand, which is why I'm watching the videos.

[@TranzAustralia]

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender-specific_and_gender-neutral_pronouns

[@debbiehoad1850]

IS there a non-gendered pronoun that isn't 'it'? 'It' seems derogatory. In person I could ask someone what they preferred.

[@elijackson5910]

Not fitting either gender stereotype doesn't mean you're outside of the gender binary... You're old enough to know that, but somehow you don't. I am baffled.