     |
Welcome to the Home of GenderShiftFirstly it is the home of GenderShift, a social enterprise set up to help create a fairer world in which every person’s gender, gender identity or gender expression are accepted and respected. Secondly it is intended as a resource to provide you with access to a Network or gender support organisations who are all in one way or another challenging gender stereotyping and promoting uniqueness. We are not our Gender.“It’s a Boy” – “It’s a Girl” The moment we are born the first thing almost everyone wants to know about us is our sex. Even before a baby is born people are asking the question “is it a boy or a girl?” At birth this information is determined by a quick inspection or our genitalia to see whether we have or do not have a penis – because in most cultures boys are considered more important and valuable than girls. However this information is not really about sex - it is all about determining how someone will be treated for the rest of their lives. If we believe or perceive a baby to be male or female that determines our expectations of them and how we will treat them. From the moment we are born the colour and style of clothes, the way we are spoken to, the language used and even the way we are physically handled is determined people’s perception of our sex, not our actual sex. This socially constructed view of our “Sex” is our “Gender”. Where Sex is physiological, Gender is psychological. Sex is essential – i.e. it is the way we are born; Gender is cultural i.e. it is the way we develop in response to the way we are treated. Of course we are all different – and there is the problem. Many of us find that we don't fit the "normal expectations" of being a man or a woman and some of the expectations others have of us because of our gender are unfair or unrealistic and we can be put under considerable pressure to conform to the gender stereotypes. Challenging Gender StereotypesA hundred years ago, challenging your “gendered place” in society was very difficult, and those who were prepared to stand up and fight for women’s rights, like Emmeline Pankhurst, were often arrested for their actions. History shows us countless examples of people being arrested and even pilloried for wearing clothes considered inappropriate to their gender. People are still publicly ridiculed and humiliated for transgressing the gender boundaries, however slowly but surely the changes in attitudes are taking place. How slowly is illustrated by the fact that in the 1970's legislations was put in place to outlaw gender discrimination yet today gender is still one of the most common causes of discrimination. Men still earn on average 80% more than women; women still undertake most caring in society; masculinity is still essentially defined as "not feminine"; atypical gender behaviour and appearance is the most common reason for bullying, both at school and in the workplace. In our work we often hear comments suggesting that gender discrimination is largely a thing of the past. However, GenderShift has been created by transgender people whose life experiences show clearly that we have a long way to go as is illustrated by the Equal Opportunities Commission publication The Gender Agenda This site is being complied to help to speed up that change process and to empower people to be themselves, to challenge gender stereotyping and help you to “be the best you that you can possibly be”.
|