One of the questions posed this week that I found interesting was: "Why do we find 'transgenderdness' (is there a better term?) so fascinating in general?"
I personally think that we read transgenderdness like we do celebrity: a small group of individuals within a defined social community constantly being scrutinized by everybody else- attractive because so many of us have the deep seated desire to be a part of a closely knit 'outsider group'. To draw further similarities, many celebrities use transgendered motifs when defining their look or character. David Bowie did this in the mid 70's during his 'Ziggy Stardust' phase. The character 'Ziggy Stardust' was not only transgendered and bisexual, but an alien as well: the 'other' in more ways than one. By doing so he helped to uncover the roots of our fascination with the blurring of gender boundaries- suggesting indirectly that we see transgendered individuals in much the same way as we see aliens (the Ziggy type aliens at least). They are mysterious, threatening to some, often social outsiders, and yet constantly the subject of fascination.
Bowie as Ziggy-taken from blogs.seattleweekly.com
Bowie recognized that a performer needs to be "larger than life"- intimidating to approach, and therefor envied and surrounded by an aura of importance. Rather than following the traditional formula of cultivating intimidation by playing the role of the 'tough guy', Bowie did it by playing up sexual ambiguity. Currently, the Bowie niche is filled by performers like Lady Gaga-proving that transgendered individuals still play the role of 'the other' even 40 or so years later. Why is "the other" such a fascinating thing? Many great writers and philosophers have tried to answer this-but I'll just take the easy cop-out and say that "it's just part of the human condition".
To answer the other question: "did anything in the discussion change your view of the world?"
No. In fact I don't remember being called back on anything that I said through the entire discussion. I don't know whether it was because the issue is such a touchy one, or because everyone just agrees with me.
