In 1969, when I was a 7th grader, the song In the Year 2525 was at the top of the charts for six weeks (confession: I googled it to both find the date and number of weeks). I just listened to the song on You Tube. I have to confess that after listening to the lyrics, I almost didn’t write this entry.
The song paints a bleak picture of the future of mankind, looking at the dehumanization of the species. It is really a very haunting song. I’m sure people take different things from it, and that mine is different from what might have been intended.
I believe in evolution. I don’t just mean the kind that says we came from apes or something like that, although my limited understanding of science certainly seems to lean in that direction. I don’t see that belief as being contradictory to the belief that there may be a higher spirit…what many people call G-d (as an aside I don’t write that three letter word. Some Jews decide not to, as an honor to G-d, even though there is no real religious reason not to use the “three letter word” for the creator).
For however long we have been around as a species (I’m not even sure that word is right, as my science in college was a geology course, meaning that I can now tell you when something is a rock…I just can’t identify what type of rock!), we have been evolving from what we have been to what we are becoming.
Some of that is what we call “progress.” Now, instead of killing someone with a spear, we do so with bombs. On the other hand, our prenatal and natal care can now save babies who would have died 100 years ago. We have cures for diseases that would have been deadly 100 years ago, and yet cures for other deadly diseases elude us…and new ones seem to pop up (think AIDS).
Evolving is a mixed bag. The auto provided us with mobility, which translates to many people moving thousands of miles from where their families…and yet a staggering amount of Americans still live within 100 miles from “home.”
I guess that the purpose of this entry is to make an obvious statement: that while we have made progress over the past decade, we still have a ways to go…and that not all the “progress” is necessarily good.
I wonder. In 50 years, will gender constructs be gone? Will most men feel free to spend huge amounts of money to wear stiletto heels with knock out dresses? I doubt it…gender roles may blur a bit, but it seems as if there is some sort of a continuum, with most men on what I would call the masculine side of the teeter-totter, and most women on the feminine side. Some may move towards the middle, but for most of us, we stay on our side.
Do we have more gay and transgendered individuals now than we did 100 years ago? Even 50? 20? I don’t know if that is the case, or if we are just allowed to be more open today.
Does the internet create more transpeople or just allow us to not live in isolation? That is my theory…but I know others would dispute that.
We still live in a society where a boy going to school wearing a dress is likely to come home with bruises or worse. We still live in a society in which EMTs may stop treatment of a transwoman if they discover that she is pre-op. We still live in a society where bumper stickers proclaim that G-d made “Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.”
It is still more dangerous to be gay or lesbian than straight. In many states, it is okay to fire someone based on that basis. In even more states, it is okay to terminate a transperson. We still face the potential of violence from individuals “repulsed” by us. We still face violence by those who are “turned on” by “doing” a “trannie.”
The optimistic part of me wants to believe that we are headed towards the day where ENDA won’t be needed…but since a woman still earns less than her male counterpart, I doubt it is coming soon. The bottom line is that we can have a limited effect on change…and it is up to us to decide if we have the courage (stupidity?) to work to make it happen.
In the meantime, we need to accept ourselves for who we are. As one of my heroes in the T movement says, “say it out loud, I’m T and I’m proud.” Although I’m not proud of being a T (that would be like being proud I’m left handed…I didn’t really have anything to do with it), I am not ashamed of it. I have to be me…as each of us does. I hope for a better world…and I work towards creating the