arkeamiiris-blog

[arkeamiiris-blog]

Binary or Not Binary. That is the question.

Before I go into this, I should point out that I'm what you would call a binary person myself so this isn't coming from someone who can be claimed to have a bias that swings in the direction of what I'm saying.

So, let me start by describing identity. Quite simply, it's who you are. In a physical sense it's whatever you have on a piece of paper or a card or a database that, in theory at least - it rarely works out that way - describes who you are. In a greater sense of reality, it's who you are in your heart and in your soul.

As it is, identities come in more than one type. There are fixed identities, such as man, woman, agender, bigender, trans-masculine, trans-feminine, etc, etc. This isn't a black and white rule however, since, for some people, these identities aren't quite so fixed; notably in the case of genderfluid people. There are other aspects of identity too. Your species. Your personality. Your ethnicity, etc, etc.

Then you have your consequential identities; not identities in the fullest sense, they're statusses that are a consequence of how society defines your relationship to a fixed identity. Transgender is one example. I have the fixed identity of woman but society feels I shouldn't be; hence I'm transgender. Woman is considered by society to be a binary gender so I'm binary. I was born in a land society defines as Great Britain, so society says I'm British, etc, etc.

And then there are temporary identities. I'm a butcher, a baker, a candlestick maker. Btw, for all you Trump fans out there, a temporary identity is no basis for claiming lordship over everyone else; no identity is.

These are just three types, there are others.

The thing is, though, that consequential identities/statusses have absolutely no relevance in who a person is. I'm no different a woman being a binary woman as who I am as a woman. I'm no different as a trans woman to who I am as a woman. Being British doesn't make me any different a person as being an Earthling.

Consequential identities are purely human-made; created from a human drive to separate the world into us and them, validating us as much as possible while invalidating them as much as possible. A cis woman can feel a huge sense of superiority over a trans woman simply by adding the trans prefix and, of course, when sympathetic cisgender people try to even the score for us by creating the word cisgender, cis people revolt because it shows there's no difference in the validation of trans people to that of cis people. And, believe it or not, people in the trans community can be just as bad because we also have the subject of binaries. I'm a woman. He's a man. You're neither. So I'm binary and you're non-binary=I'm valid and you're not.

Thing is, what do we gain from invalidating others? Does it make us stronger? Does it make us more real than we already are? Does it allow us to feel fuzzy when we wake up in the morning? I don't think I've ever felt any benefit from being binary; except knowing that it's one less thing for people to attack me over. But why? It's not even as though there's anything special about being binary. It's not like being cis makes people better people. It's not like being British fills me with any sense of pride. In fact, given how British people are commonly taught to behave, similar to American teaching, albeit less extreme, it actually fills me with a sense of shame.

So the point I'm trying to make here is this. If you must cling to a status that does nothing at all to define who you are as a person, then feel free to do so but please, for Elysium's sake, stop using it to separate the world into us and them because you will eventually, find that us turns into me and no one can stand alone in this world.

[arkeamiiris-blog]

Amifima on the move. <3

[arkeamiiris-blog]

Diversity and Cancer.

Everything that exists is a matter of diversity. Faith, Identity. Loves, Likes, Dislikes. Politics. Eye Colour. Height. Weight. Blood Type. And Yes. Opinions.

However, when an aspect of diversity stands against another aspect of diversity, this is like cancer, which is a part of a human body standing against one or more organs of the human body. And prejudices are that cancer. The answer, of course, is not to remove the attacked organ though. A person can't live without their liver. A person can't live without blood. A person can't live without their brain. The answer, of course, is to remove the cancer.

This isn't to say that no one should have an opinion. Opinions aren't the cancer because not all opinions attack diversity. The answer is to deal with the speech that is so poorly disguised as opinions and remove them.

In Britain, Hate Speech is a crime.

Let's act on that.

Ami. <3 x

[arkeamiiris-blog]

Going Swimming.

So, I might be a little out of my depth here. I usually am when I join new places but, as they say, “If you going to learn to swim, you need to jump in the water.”

So here I am, out in the middle of the Atlantic.

Nah, I’m actually living in Warrington in the UK; probably the closest place to a safe place if you’re diversity is as much a matter of ‘opinion’ as mine. It’s kind of funny how we can decide that our areas are not matters of opinion but everyone else’s is. Nevertheless, a rose is pointless if its petals must be hidden from the world. So, my petals include being trans, being pan, having a psychiatric disability, being pagan, being a woman and, according to my bio mum, having a little non-obvious non-Caucasian heritage, although my two younger sisters dispute that, one going so far as to take a fully racist and nationalist position.

I’m not the most confident person in the world and I am aware that this may not be the best place to say that but...I’ve already mentioned about petals and hiding. Speaking of which, I am going to hide one petal at least.

I’m proud to say I’ve found the love of my life and, while no one knows the future, I’m unusually confident that Asia and I will grow old together, although, tbh, we’re both nearly halfway there already. lol.

I’m currently spending my time preparing for the day when I’ve got to take a job I can’t do in order to hopefully escape the next British genocide but I also like relaxing to Black Desert and standing on the committee of a local trans support group and information service.

I also have a daughter; not a happy story but I have my hopes for a future where no one can decide her rights for her.

And that’s a little about me. I’ve made a bet with Asia that, assuming anyone responds to this, the first comment will be trollish. Would be nice to think I get to lose £10 to her. lol.