Origin of the word Human.
We are not all human, we are variables in variability. I am not an anthropologist but to me, Human is a social construct. "I" am an assemblage of experiences, with intersectional aspects of identity with other entities and "we" exists conveniently to implement an idea of togetherness. Allan Watts said..Language is a bi-product of philosophy, language is the second result. "Humanity was named Homo sapiens by Carl Linnaeus, the father of the modern system for classifying organisms, in 1758." (PARRY 2011) Contrary to popular belief the idea that we are all homo sapiens may have been a mainstream media phenomenon brought on by Post-WW2 eugenics trauma and fear of differentiation. "Homo erectus to Modern Man: Evolution or Human Variability?" (MEILERT 1994) Meilert discusses how the controversial discoveries such as the fossils coined the 'Peking Man' also question the validity of linear and contemporary understandings of evolution. This isn't a conspiracy, there is a copious amount of anthropological evidence as there is socio-anecdotal evidence to support that our character differences may be as different as our biology..not to mention how todays medical technology through HRT and CRISPR already allows us to change our genes and gene expression..on top of..the epigenetic field of science that studies how our biology in fact changes throughout our life...further removing more assumptions of the Nature Versus Nurture argument.
The queer community is constantly guilty of what Spivak would call Strategic Essentialism; categorizing sexual, gender, human/non-human identitie(s) and entitie(s) in efforts of creating communities but deteriorating social bonds between particular individuals. An alienation in unique characteristics and differentiations through normality and idealism.
On the topic of those who identity as Androphile; A person, of any gender, who loves men, or who is sexually attracted to men.
No one has the right to describe another persons behaviour or identity as gay or anything for that matter. How is it harmful that someone identifies as something that deviates from cis-herero or the subcultures of LGBTQ+? Androphile’s are just like a hand full of my friends who come from a new generation of youth that simply occupy a different space.
I’m transgender/non binary..and my partner is a cis-heterosexual male that has never had anything to do with queer culture and neither have I in many respects. It’s 2017 and what ultimately matters I think is respecting people’s pronouns, (sexual and gender) identity, behaviour, and expression based on a model of consent. Non of your arguments can be justified through assumption. The harsh reality is that 21st century understandings of language allows us to design our own micro cultures and individual existences and the people from earlier generations have a choice to adapt or resist. I don’t think We can not force community, we can only foster belonging.
Language to me has become our last resort for those that seek belonging. Audre Lordes Intersectionality allows us to see how it is possible for multiple individuals to co-exist by looking at our intersecting identity(s) and behaviour(s) create unique experiences of privilege and oppression without categorizing things as black and white, right or wrong. Queer or not queer.
Ps. After years of struggling with my gender and sexual identity, I myself see logic in words such as ambiphillia or pansexuality and know others that are ambigender and have no sexual identity. I also know individuals that use Zhe pronouns and moth pronouns..it’s 2017. James primary criticism has been towards the culture of gender expression, expression-art, design and practice. Is it appropriate to continue perpetuating a western colonial ideal in queerness and identity politics? Queer theory within itself questions legitimacy as coming out to the majority could be seen as in fact anti-queer. Recent understanding of trans studies within academia questions the binary framework of sexual orientation which may create less inclusivity than earlier historical thought. Things to think about.
I think it’s bad to practice genderism, these terms such as Androphiles were invented to be gender and sexually inclusive to those that exist outside of the gender binary. Why don’t you all just say Non-Binary don’t exist, and should all be exiled? My goodness, this thread if the definition of homonormativity.
I started @wumingbong a while ago which tag line states..THE ONLINE COMMUNITY FOR POST-HUMAN YOUTH | WE DON'T CARE IF YOU - SUBSCRIBE - BORING CONTENT QUEER CONTEXT
The youtube channel existed in order to bring together other individuals that not only identify outside the gender binary but also a community of people that don’t identify as anything. My focus for the channel has always been towards the advocacy for youth rights and giving queer and non-queer youth the platform to speak. In Canada ”Youth” is technically considered anyone between the ages of 18-30 according to many social groups in Toronto.
Honestly I don't think it helps children to say we are all human or even call them children. Children don't want to be viewed as children, and probably everyone that was a child would say that as well. It's necessary for adult to recognize the positionality of children but youth are becoming so advanced and self-aware..as someone who is order, I don't think it's my place to define youth as anything, even human. One could argue we are marginalizing youth by defining and categorizing them as children. It makes a lot of sense to me that one day children may not identify with having parents, and today there is already evidence of that. Queer Youth Studies we learn about the difference between big C and little c and the invention of the ideal child that creates boundaries for youth and create a further intergenerational disconnect.
(This distinction between the ideal child and the figurative child *Big C, Little C* comes from Author and Queer Theorist; Lee Edelman’s book..No Future. “In this searing polemic, Lee Edelman outlines a radically uncompromising new ethics of queer theory. His main target is the all-pervasive figure of the child, which he reads as the linchpin of our universal politics of “reproductive futurism.” - Duke University)
For a more mainstream perspective of this read.. “https://medium.com/queer-theory/idolizing-the-child-means-dismissing-children-939f6ddf1fc8”
Race is one thing, gender is another...but agism is eventually going to be something we need to tackle critically with the necessity of youth being apart of the conversation.
Over the years, especially after coming to terms with non-binary, transitioning..I’ve accepted that in the meantime I’m content with being read as a female, cis-woman or trans-woman and my personal pronouns being read as she/her.
My close friends and loved ones know that I prefer they/them pronouns but they also understand that I don’t identify as anything. Ultimately in this temporality and dimension..I was assigned male at birth, human at birth, child at birth BUT 2017 in a post-gender society on the brink era of transhumanism..where freedom of gender identity and expression exists..I don’t think it’s that radical to not identify with a gender or even human.
It seems to me humans (scientists and sociologist alike) have not yet even figured out what it means to be human..
So how can humans be so sure of what they are?
EDIT
Ps. Privilege is probably the biggest criticism I get when It comes to discussing gender identity and frankly it is completely justified but what most people fail to realize is that occupying spaces of privilege does not absolve an individual of marginalization and oppression. Black feminist studies such as Audre Lorde discuss..
Intersectionality: the interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual or group, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage.
Individual or group is the key point here. I do not speak for other individuals, community(s), or group(s) that exist, but I feel I have a responsibility to speak out and encourage other transgender and gender non-conforming to speak out.
It’s important to recognize that an individual such as my self acknowledges the personhood of being (AMAB) post-transition and certain privileges that were given to me and may still be given to me are things I may still benefit from. The complicated analysis comes from medically or socially transitioning in 2017 and this practice may shift the experiences of oppression and privileges of not just me but many other trans or non-binary individuals. This shift can be traumatic and often out of our control. (For some transgender people transitioning is a practice and for others it is not but in the future I will discuss the importance of making this distinction between identity and practice, transgender and transitioning.) Writing for me as been as act of advocacy but also therapy where I can seek to discuss evidence, history, and how those intersect with personal existences. I want to also take this time to say thank you to all the supporters of @wumingbong and continue to be a part of the conversation. I hope that in time, you as reader will see that these articles are a way to find correlations between gender and transhumanism and by doing this future youth may be able to better define their own meaning of Post-Humanism.