Blog #24

Prior to reading Middlesex I, for some reason, always thought it wouldn’t be overly difficult to determine whether someone was a man or a woman. Then I read Cal’s story and the story of the gene that traveled all the way from Greece and eventually met it’s match resulting in the confounding inter-sex that was Cal. Now this word “inter-sex” provides an interesting take on the whole situation. An individual in Cal’s position is perfectly described as an “inter-sex” due to his position between the two “standard” genders. On a more personal note, I feel that however an individual presents themselves is representative with the gender that they identify themselves as. This was a more recent development however, and only came about after I learned that an acquaintance of mine was actually a woman dressing and acting in the role of a man. The only reason that I found out was because he told me that I had offended him by talking about penises. Apparently his lack of a penis was what set him off, but I responded: “I don’t know why you’re pointing this out and making it such a big deal. I had no idea that you weren’t a man. You seriously could have just played along and none of us would have been any wiser of the truth. We all thought you were a guy.” Now my retort was a little harsh, but I feel that it was justified. He presented himself as a man, and when I treated him like a man he seemed to be offended. That is a whole other can of worms that should perhaps be left untouched, but this certainly does open the door to discussing Cal. He presents himself as a man, even though Callie pops up form time to time, Cal continues representing himself as a man; therefore I shall consider him a man. That’s how I see it, and I worry little with what biology has served us with. Much like little Ludo in Ma Vie En Rose, I feel that what an individual presents themselves as is what they are. Or to put it another way: It is what it is, and I am what I it.

Poem #29: Freeverse

Who am I, if not what I say I am?
Perhaps what am I is the more important question…

Answering either of these is no simple feat, nor should they underestimated.
The thing is, both of these questions are severely loaded.
Who am I opens up easily into the world of lies and embellishments as well as self-deprecation and narcissism.
What am I appears to be asking you what you do for a living, and since many of us define ourselves by what we do many would simply reply with what their occupation or job is and entails.
Perhaps the best question that really gets to the heart of everything is:
Why am I?

This question asks for reasons, not simply answers.
To the individuals with weak constitutions, this may cause a fainting spell from the plethora of potential possibilities.
Or, they just may simply stammer and stare at the questioner with blank eyes.
Others may yell and jump declaring they like bananas and assert that an angry monkey once picked them for a game of dodge ball while they proceed to preform perilous acts of preposterous pandimonium and declare that there are too many “p’s” in the air.
Still, they will always be one or two whom when asked any of these questions will simply and honestly respond:
“I am me.”