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In July 2014, Emma Watson was appointed as a UN Women Goodwill ambassador. “…the perception of “man-hating” is something that “has to stop.”
In September that year, an admittedly nervous Watson delivered an address at UN Headquarters in New York City to launch the UN Women campaign HeForShe, which calls for men to advocate for gender equality. In that speech she said she began questioning gender-based assumptions at age eight when she was called “bossy” (a trait she has attributed to her being a “perfectionist”) whilst boys were not, and at 14 when she was “sexualised by certain elements of the media”. Watson’s speech also called feminism “the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities” and declared that the perception of “man-hating” is something that “has to stop”. Watson later said she received threats within 12 hours of making the speech, which left her “raging. … If they were trying to put me off [women’s rights work], it did the opposite”. Emma’s speech follows (13min)
The Ole’ Buzzard rejects confusing anyone … especially children … with the following characterizations …
- Agender Somebody who either feels they have no gender identity, or who identify not as male or female but ‘neutral.’
- Aporagender A fairly new word stemming from the Greek ‘apor’, meaning ‘separate’. Aporagender is an umbrella term meaning “a gender separate from male, female and anything in between while still having a very strong and specific gendered feeling.” That latter part is key, then, distinguishing it from Agender.
- Bigender Relatively straightforward: a bigender person sees themselves as having two gender identities. The separate genders could both be male, or female, mixed or other – and may be felt at the same time or entirely distinctly.
- Butch Used as both a noun and an adjective, this refers to a person who identifies as masculine (either physically, mentally or emotionally). The term is occasionally used as a lesbian slur, but has been reclaimed by some gay women and turned into a affirmative label.
- Cisgender Pronounced “siss-gender”, this refers to anybody who identifies with the same biological gender they were born with. Tentatively, then, it could be seen as the opposite of transgender.
- Demigender A catchall term for all identities that only have a partial connection to a certain gender. Demiboy and demigirl are also frequently used.
- Femme Used by and for anybody who identifies as feminine, but more commonly associated with feminine-identifying gay women.
- Genderfluid A term describing individuals for whom gender is unfixed: they fluctuate between different identities aside from their biological assignment.
- Gender neutral A synonym for ‘agender’: somebody who identifies with no gender.
- Gender queer An umbrella term covering any feelings about gender alternative to society’s traditional expectations.
- Intergender One of the oldest (and thus often deemed outdated) terms, this is used by anybody whose gender identity is between male and female. Some believe intergender should only refer to those born with different genitals to the norm, though this is more commonly known as ‘intersex’.
- Nonbinary Fairly simply, anybody who doesn’t identify as simply female or male.
- Polygender Identifying with several different genders either at the same time or different times. Normally the term is given to those with four or more.
- Transgender/Trans An umbrella term for any individual whose gender identity is different from what is typically associated with their assigned biological sex at birth. It should be noted that transgenderism is a gender identity and not a sexual orientation, therefore no assumptions should be made as a result.
- Mind Bending Finale’ … LGBTQIA is sometimes used and adds “queer, intersex, and asexual” to the basic term. … There is also the acronym QUILTBAG (queer and questioning, intersex, lesbian, transgender and two-spirit, bisexual, asexual and ally, and gay and genderqueer).
Should we surrender to the confusion and homogenization of boys to girls and men to women?
Nope, we won’t be cowed and demeaned. For the most part we’re happy in our skins and we’ll always be just men.
You heard me … Just Men and Damned Proud of it! “Vivre la Difference!”
