Oh, what's this? *blows dust off* A blog? Wow - I'd forgotten all about it. I should really use it more often...
Yeah, I've not been feeling up to writing much. Don't know if that's good or bad. Work been keeping me busy. Time going by so fast. No rpg sessions to write up. Little motivation to try and review the things I've read/watched because I soon move onto the next thing. The news - well, I get to bitch about the government and newspapers on Google Reader and Twitter so don't feel the need to go into depth here. I guess I just haven't had anything to say then.
My SO is in Dublin this weekend for evil plotting and the Terror and I are going to my parents tomorrow for the night. It's my dad's 60th on Monday so I've bought him a present,which I haven't bothered even trying to wrap or disguise but I'm still not going to say what it is just on the off chance he reads this before tomorrow. It may clink slightly.
A few weeks ago I suddenly realised I'd been breaking my "no answer to binary gender question" thing every time I checked in at the doctor's surgery, and then felt rather stupid for not realising earlier. As I've mostly chickened out of trying to get a new bank account or anything it's not being much of useful experiment I suppose.
I'm getting better at using Excel due to work, but still not that great. I keep thinking there must be an easier way of doing the things I do, and then failing to find one. My boss is lovely and I'm getting better at dealing with the people who turn up for one reason or another but I still feel too damn shy and have to work myself up to asking stuff. But they don't seem to wanting to get rid of me, so that's something. Still haven't booked any holidays. Should really do that.
Think that's about all the news, if you can call any of that "news".
Showing posts with label me and my crazy ideas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label me and my crazy ideas. Show all posts
Friday, July 1, 2011
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Re: Census
Those of you with persistent memories will recall I had a crazy plan, which I've been mostly sticking to, but more by avoiding answering the offending question than by explaining why. Still, today is census day, and this meant I needed to actually write a letter to include with the form. Here it is, for better or worse.
To Whom It May Concern,
I am writing to explain why I have left Question 2 unanswered on the enclosed Census form. My objections to the question are two-fold.
Firstly, the phrasing of the question. “What is your sex?” is problematic as it unclear what precisely is meant by “sex”, and the manner in which this is usually decided at birth relies entirely on the appearance of one's genitals. I hope you can appreciate that I consider this to be too intrusive and personal a question to ask. Also, I believe that formal guidance given to the transgender community has clarified that transsexual people are explicitly permitted to select the option that reflects their “acquired” gender regardless of whether they possess a Gender Recognition Certificate or not. Thus I find the decision not to phrase the question in terms of gender, thereby bypassing the awkward question as to what is someone's “true” sex, both baffling and disappointing.
Assuming that the intended question is “What is your gender?” leads me to my second objection. The two given options, “male” or “female”, are too restrictive. Once one acknowledges that a person's gender may differ from that assigned to them by their outward appearance, it is hardly surprising to realise that their gender may differ from either of the two most commonly recognised sexes. Or that they may be unsure as to what their true gender is, and not wish to just answer based on social expectations. In other words, it is both simplistic and erroneous to assume that gender is a binary, as Western society does, and insisting that everyone has to fit into one of these two “boxes” (“male” or “female”) is discriminatory. While it might be anticipated that the number of people in Britain today who would identify as a non-binary gender is small, the truth is we will never know unless efforts are made to begin to collect this data. I feel that the 2011 Census missed an opportunity to do this.
Yours faithfully,
Adele Taylor
To Whom It May Concern,
I am writing to explain why I have left Question 2 unanswered on the enclosed Census form. My objections to the question are two-fold.
Firstly, the phrasing of the question. “What is your sex?” is problematic as it unclear what precisely is meant by “sex”, and the manner in which this is usually decided at birth relies entirely on the appearance of one's genitals. I hope you can appreciate that I consider this to be too intrusive and personal a question to ask. Also, I believe that formal guidance given to the transgender community has clarified that transsexual people are explicitly permitted to select the option that reflects their “acquired” gender regardless of whether they possess a Gender Recognition Certificate or not. Thus I find the decision not to phrase the question in terms of gender, thereby bypassing the awkward question as to what is someone's “true” sex, both baffling and disappointing.
Assuming that the intended question is “What is your gender?” leads me to my second objection. The two given options, “male” or “female”, are too restrictive. Once one acknowledges that a person's gender may differ from that assigned to them by their outward appearance, it is hardly surprising to realise that their gender may differ from either of the two most commonly recognised sexes. Or that they may be unsure as to what their true gender is, and not wish to just answer based on social expectations. In other words, it is both simplistic and erroneous to assume that gender is a binary, as Western society does, and insisting that everyone has to fit into one of these two “boxes” (“male” or “female”) is discriminatory. While it might be anticipated that the number of people in Britain today who would identify as a non-binary gender is small, the truth is we will never know unless efforts are made to begin to collect this data. I feel that the 2011 Census missed an opportunity to do this.
Yours faithfully,
Adele Taylor
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
