A Gender Identity by definition is the way in which an individual identifies with a gender category. Everybody knows the two categories as a boy and a girl. Experts say that basic gender identity is usually formed by age 3. But we still determine a person’s gender identity by their sex organs, so the average 3 year old doesn't actually have a say in this, since they can't choose if they want their hair long or short, or whether they went to wear a dress or shorts, which is what our parents do to stereotype us into the typical roles.

So really, the categories boy and girl are social categories.

After reading about the Genderless baby that a Canadian couple are planning to raise, and reading about the public's views on their situation, I think it's ridiculous. Not the parents. Obviously. They're giving their children the FREEDOM that none of us ever had to be who they want to be, instead of stereotyping their children into becoming typical boys and girls.

According to the articles I've read, baby Storm is just a genderless baby. Storm has no identity until the public has determined his/her gender, which is ridiculous. The public seem to think that what they are doing to this baby and their other children is cruel in some way. Don't you think a girl born in a boy body, being forced to be a boy is more cruel?

Isn't that why the suicide rate for transgendered people is so high?

Some people are seeing this as a cruel experiment, but it’s not like they are forcing this child to become a gender, unlike David Reimer. If you don’t know who that is, he was a man who was born a boy (Bruce) with his twin brother Brian. The baby boy’s went in for a routine circumcision, but the doctor made a mistake with Bruce, destroying his penis. The parents then decided to listen to a psychologist John Money, telling them to raise him as a girl, just because he lost his genitals.

This was just an experiment to the doctor, but it was torture for the family involved.

Bruce, now named Brenda was being stereotyped as a girl by his parents. His twin brother Brian always thought that he was a girl too, while Brenda was lonely and confused. Doctor Money believed that gender identity could be taught to a child that didn’t know any better. She played with her brothers toys, never really made any friends at school, because the girls thought she was too much of a boy and the boys didn’t want to play with a girl.

Brenda was later told the truth of what happened to her, immediately wanting to live as a boy, calling himself David. He lost touch with his brother after the truth came out. He suffered years of severe depression, financial instability and a troubled marriage, before he finally committed suicide.

Now that is torture.

What these parents are doing though is giving their children Freedom, which I highly doubt would ever lead to the life that David Reimer had. He pretty much witnessed firsthand what it’s like to be transgendered.

Female clothing, toys and hormones that were unwillingly pumped through his body, didn’t change his gender identity, which is proof that it can’t be taught or changed. It’s something that's inside you from the moment that you’re born.

So, all these parents are really doing is just letting their children live a natural, normal life, without any influence of gender stereotyping.

Although we have moved away from some of the much older influences that we used to have on gender identity and gender roles, we’re still stereotyping our gender roles, even now that we have so much more information.

I don’t know what everyone is so worried about either.

Is there going to be a genderless-phobia popping up in the future?

Gay men are feared by straight men because they feel emasculated by them. Transgendered boys who are born girls are feared by women because they feel as though they are giving up the female dominance that took centuries to gain.

Is our society seriously going to remain this ignorant for years to come?

All these parents are doing is giving their children freedom. They are just proving that Gender Identity is not established at birth, it’s something that your parents or society gives you by the way that they treat you, so why is someone who is transgendered described as having a Gender Identity Disorder?

The only consequences that these parents are giving to their children is their freedom. They’re not so much choosing their gender, but their identity.

What's so bad about that?

I applaud these parents, and agree that we should all follow in their footsteps.
 

I am what I am
I am my own special creation
So come take a look
Give me the hook
Or the ovation
It's my world that I want to have a little pride in
My world and it's not a place I have to hide in
Life's not worth a damn
Till you can say
I am what I am

I am what I am
I don't want praise, I don't want pity
I bang my own drum
Some thinks it's noise
I think it's pretty
And so what if I love each sparkle and each bangle
Why not try to see things from a different angle
Your life is a sham till you can shout out
I am what I am

I am what I am
And what I am
Needs no excuses
I deal my own deck
Sometimes the ace
Sometimes the deuces
It's one life and there's no return and no deposit
One life so its time to open up your closet
Life's not worth a damn 'til you can shout out
I am what I am

I am what I am
And what I am needs no excuses
I deal my own deck
Sometimes the ace
Some times the deuces
It's one life and theres no return and no deposit
One life so its time to open up your closet
Life's not worth a damn
Till you can shout out
I am what I am

By Gloria Gayner

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Writers Block

Many writers will have trouble with writer's block at some point in their lives; I have on a few occasions! Anything can cause writer's block from fear, life changes, anxiety, boredom, the end of a project or the beginning of a project etc . . . Almost anything can cause it and it can be very frustrating.

Here are some suggestions that usually help me when I’m suffering from writers block:

1.     Take some time off writing

Either go out for a walk. Go watch a movie. Go out to dinner or just sit in the park and observe. Inspiration usually comes from experiencing things for yourself.

2.    Don’t be hard on yourself!

Writers block can happen to anyone at anytime, it can cause depression. Writing is supposed to be fun. Criticism is for the people that read your work . . . not yourself.

3.     Work on multiple projects at a time

I personally have found that this helps me. When I suffer writers block for one story I move onto another one. You may have noticed that I write a few stories at a time. This is the reason why. Writers block can be caused by boredom or your lack of belief that a story is going to work out okay. I work on a few stories at a time so it keeps my brain active.

4.    Working Space!

Where do you sit down to work on your stories? I have a laptop so I can move around. If I’m at home I change places from my desk in my bedroom, to my bed, the floor in the front room (although the cats usually walk across the keyboard) the sofa, kitchen table or out in the garden. Or when I’m out and about a park bench, coffee shop, diner or out on the grass somewhere (weather is usually an issue though if you’re outside, especially in the UK.)

Usually a new environment to work in can help you. Also check you’re lighting, comfortable chair, noise and things like that. Some writers can work around five screaming children or a barking dog, but others prefer the peace and quiet.

5.    Try other exercises

Try different exercises with your mind to loosen your brain, just like you would with normal exercises. A few things I try are:

Dictionary – Open your dictionary to random pages, picking out 5 random words and write them on a piece of paper along the top. Once you have enough words you’ll need a stop watch or a clock. Time yourself for 15 minutes using these 5 words to write a short piece, on a memory, short story etc... Whatever comes to mind. Just keep your pen moving. Make sure you use all five words in your piece. Your words can be anything from foods, colours, places, feelings etc... It’s a good warm up exercise and really gets you thinking!

Song challenge – Put a CD on and select random. During each track write a short piece. Eg. Hinder’s song Without You... Play it, put pen to paper and start writing about something related to the lyrics of the music. As soon as the song stops you stop then move onto the next track. You’ll end up with lots of short little fictions that you might be able to turn into short stories or incorporate them into a story you already have.

Watch a movie or TV program – Anything, from something you’ve never watched before or something you previously avoided. Sit down in front of the TV with nothing but a pen and paper. Any ideas can spring to mind from watching an action movie / hospital program and so on...

Another thing you can do is when the movies over, put pen to paper and write a review. Write how much you loved the characters, loved the fight sequences, hated it when the bad guy was winning, how your heart sped up during the fight sequence and how you felt the characters emotion when the sad soft music was playing the background.

Word Challenge – Find the longest word you can possibly find from the dictionary like ‘manoeuvre’ or something longer. Write it at the top of a piece of paper. Time yourself for five minutes to make up as many words as you can from that one word. Eg. Man, No and so on... the longer the better. Try this with many words, when the timer stops you stop writing.

Read a book (cover to cover) – Open up your creative mind to others style of writing.

Once you’re finished you can write a review for this too. Set yourself a target of 500 words or something and try to a interesting review on how the book made you feel or affected you.

6.    Make a writing schedule.

Set aside a spare hour or so every day where you sit yourself down and start writing non-stop. Even if you only write 200 or so words, at least you wrote something. If you continue to push yourself like this every day you’ll have something close to a short story.

7.    Do other things.

Many of my friends, including myself for a short while, when we suffered writers block we’d just continue to try and come up with ideas or inspiration by ourselves. Doing this will only make you more frustrated and the likely hood of coming up with inspiration when you’re depressed/bored is very slim.

Go and do something else.

Talk to a friend/cousin/sister about your story, they may be able to help you with inspiration or give you pointers on what to do next.

Submit your story to sites such as Fanfiction.net, FictionPress.com, nifty.bunkhouse.com... Criticism, compliments, reviews and comments all help a writer to boost their confidence in writing. One good review can make you feel better about yourself and inspire you to write some more. When your readers start asking for more and tell you how much they loved it, writers block usually fades slightly.

Writers with no one to write for find it harder to write just like a cook with no one to eat their food.

You can even read someone else’s stories and write them a review.

8.    Try writing in a different style.

Perspective writing for example – this can be stimulating for you on knowing exactly how to write how a character feels emotionally. When someone reads it they will be involved in the story more rather than a narrative position as they’ll feel part of it. Remember your I’s, me’s and things, try not to switch perspectives in one piece or it won’t make much sense in the end.

9.    Write a Journal / Diary

On your life obviously, no one has to see it, so it can be about anything. Eg.

May 14^th 2010

I woke up with a splitting headache yet again. I wish my mother would keep her voice down when she's yelling at my brother to get ready for school. Some of us don’t have to get up for another hour.

Changed the cat’s dirt box then watched Felix trying to stuff his toy mouse in the gap between the freezer and the dishwasher. One day he’ll learn that it’s too big.

Talked to my step-sister about adopting her kitten she no longer wants. I can’t believe she's only had it 2 weeks and she wants to get rid of it already...

Blah blah blah . . .

You get it. Very easy and simple. If you do write personal stuff in your diary/journal make sure you hide it. If your brothers are anything like mine then you know they always try and hunt for it (or your mother when you’re a teenager)

10. Breathing life into your writing

Take one of your main characters off the page a moment (Figuratively speaking here) Do you know what your character looks like down to every last detail?

Start with their body:

Physique (anorexic; gangling; gaunt; haggard; lanky; scrawny; skinny; spindly; withered / agile; athletic; lean; lithe; petite; rangy; reed like; slender; slight; slim; sylphlike; thin; trim; willowy / barrel-chested; beefy; big-boned; brawny; buxom; chubby; fat; muscular; sinewy; well-muscled; voluptuous)

skin colour (alabaster; albino; apricot; black; bronze; brown; caramel; cream; ebony; fair; ivory; lily-white; milky; nut-brown; olive; red; white; yellow;)

complexion (blush; flush; freckled; glowing; jaundiced; mottled; pallid; pale; pasty; rosy; ruddy; russet; sallow; splotchy; wan; acned; cadaverous; craggy; greasy; leathery; peeling; pitted; pocked; scarred; sunburnt; wrinkled)

 hair colour, hair style, hair condition, facial hair, eyes (shade, colour, size), mouth, lips, teeth, nose, ears, chin, cheeks, neck, chest, stomach, shoulders, arms, hands, fingers, fingernails, back, legs, feet, toes, toenails

And so on...

Then their Physical Expressions, like their voice; how it sounds. What their face looks like when their happy, sad, angry. How their eyes screw up when their thinking and so on...

Next you can sort out their style of clothing: Shorts, jeans, sweat pants, suit...

The jewellery they wear: Watch (engraved/who from/ when they got it) Earring, belly ring

If you don’t know any of this then how do you expect your readers to? Just sit down for half an hour or so and make a list for each character. It could trigger more inspiration or just help you to get to know your characters better.

I hope this helps you to overcome your Writers Block. Many of these have worked for me, but it depends if your heart is your writing too. If you still can’t think of anything start a new project and get back to it later. You may find your better suited for something else.

ღ By Holly ღ

For anyone suffering writers block