Reflection Essay
1. Most people have never considered if they are filling a blank of the question of their gender on a form, the answers might not only be male and female. I was surprised by Sharyn Graham’s “Inside Indonesia” that conveys an innovative message about genders to me. In her article, she explains that there are five genders can be classified in the Indonesia which include male, female, bissu, calalai, and calabai. Calalai represents a man who identifies himself as a women, in the contrast, calabai means a woman who identifies herself as a man. Besides, Bissu represents a person who is born both male and female. They enlightened me because my original notion of genders was subverted. I realized something that has usually been considered …show more content…
The biggest commonalty among the cultures that are mentioned in the materials I found is that all of them believe that more than two genders exist. For example, a person can have both male and female simultaneously. In the past America, most tribes believed the existence of two-spirit people. I think it is the most interesting thing because two-spirit and bisexual are considered as a disorder by most people nowadays. In the “The Past - Uncommon gender identity integrated into society”, the authors say that many tribes had rituals for children to go through if they were recognized as acting different from their birth gender. I was surprised by the ritual because it makes me to think about my awareness of gender. Most of us follow our biological gender to live, yet the way we live is constructed by the society. Thus, we have to act like a girl, or behave like a man that depend on what our biological genders are. However, a question has occurred in my mind after I read this article. Is it possible that our real genders of our spirits were destroyed by our society? Therefore, I think the ritual that is mentioned in the article is valuable because it can assure people to grow with their real gender without any …show more content…
All of the materials and videos inspired and challenged my original belief about gender identity. Before I read the materials, I had seldom considered the genders except male and female. I believe that there are only two genders exist in our world. However, when I read these materials, my notion of genders was changed. The inconsistence between human’s spirit and body causes more genders, including calalai and calabai, to occur. As Graham says, “Calalai means 'false man ' and calabai means 'false woman '” They identify themselves as the gender that opposite to what they biologically are. I thought calalai and calabai are some kinds of identity disorder until I read these article. I now accept that they can be classified as a gender. In addition, there are also some people who have both characteristics of male and female who can be called bissu or two-spirit people. I thought they were abnormal before I read the materials. However, my thought was doubted right now. In the article, the traditional American tribes believe it is normal that child is born both male and female. According to the YouTube video of this assignment, “There are five genders and we don’t need to separate people based on their gender because everything must live in harmony. If one of the genders is separated, then the world will become unbalanced.” Therefore, I started to hesitate that most of us might be the abnormal
1. Most people have never considered if they are filling a blank of the question of their gender on a form, the answers might not only be male and female. I was surprised by Sharyn Graham’s “Inside Indonesia” that conveys an innovative message about genders to me. In her article, she explains that there are five genders can be classified in the Indonesia which include male, female, bissu, calalai, and calabai. Calalai represents a man who identifies himself as a women, in the contrast, calabai means a woman who identifies herself as a man. Besides, Bissu represents a person who is born both male and female. They enlightened me because my original notion of genders was subverted. I realized something that has usually been considered …show more content…
The biggest commonalty among the cultures that are mentioned in the materials I found is that all of them believe that more than two genders exist. For example, a person can have both male and female simultaneously. In the past America, most tribes believed the existence of two-spirit people. I think it is the most interesting thing because two-spirit and bisexual are considered as a disorder by most people nowadays. In the “The Past - Uncommon gender identity integrated into society”, the authors say that many tribes had rituals for children to go through if they were recognized as acting different from their birth gender. I was surprised by the ritual because it makes me to think about my awareness of gender. Most of us follow our biological gender to live, yet the way we live is constructed by the society. Thus, we have to act like a girl, or behave like a man that depend on what our biological genders are. However, a question has occurred in my mind after I read this article. Is it possible that our real genders of our spirits were destroyed by our society? Therefore, I think the ritual that is mentioned in the article is valuable because it can assure people to grow with their real gender without any …show more content…
All of the materials and videos inspired and challenged my original belief about gender identity. Before I read the materials, I had seldom considered the genders except male and female. I believe that there are only two genders exist in our world. However, when I read these materials, my notion of genders was changed. The inconsistence between human’s spirit and body causes more genders, including calalai and calabai, to occur. As Graham says, “Calalai means 'false man ' and calabai means 'false woman '” They identify themselves as the gender that opposite to what they biologically are. I thought calalai and calabai are some kinds of identity disorder until I read these article. I now accept that they can be classified as a gender. In addition, there are also some people who have both characteristics of male and female who can be called bissu or two-spirit people. I thought they were abnormal before I read the materials. However, my thought was doubted right now. In the article, the traditional American tribes believe it is normal that child is born both male and female. According to the YouTube video of this assignment, “There are five genders and we don’t need to separate people based on their gender because everything must live in harmony. If one of the genders is separated, then the world will become unbalanced.” Therefore, I started to hesitate that most of us might be the abnormal