He, She, They; A perspective from a conservative teenager living in South Asia
Gender is a controversial issue all of a sudden, heather it is the same as sex or is it fluid is a big question. No matter what side you’re on you can’t deny that corporations are quickly accepting the new theories that gender is fluid and mostly it comprises what the individual thinks about himself/herself or themselves, you see my point? While accepting this notion every aspect of our language culture and traditions are at a crossroads. Is this change bad? Or good, I’m not here to tell you what you should think about this, make up your own mind, but this is an article about what I see living in a third world country where gender is an issue that couldn’t be further away from any sort of relevance.
The cost of living in a free society can be messy and sometimes confusing, but the point of fact is the benefits of living in a free society are far beyond any other cost. And this is the privilege that the westerners enjoy, thinking about how you feel like and what you feel like is the privilege that no one in the Asian countries have. Maybe the rich ones, probably not the one’s still recovering from colonialism. So the first point is, in order to be free you need a certain level of wealth and privilege.
Religion is a big factor still in southeastern Asia, and not only in ideology but also in practice, and in religion, the roles of your existence is strictly determined, therefore the need to reevaluate yourself is always not needed, you know your place in the world, but please keep an open mind when reading as religion is not a substitute word for conservatism. You will see cultural diversity in Asia where religion is the backbone for liberal movements. For your rights and and rule of law is fought for in the banner of religion, but in the western culture religion has lost its place in modern society. Agnosticism or flat out a “don’t care” attitude is well established, and that generates into people searching for something to find meaning and find value in their feelings. So religion is a big factor for not looking to observe yourself to that extent.
If you see a second or first generation Asian kid, you might find him or her living with his parents well into their 40s and 50s and living in a joint family. This is a common culture for Asia, you’re not a loser if you don’t leave home at 18 and find your own way, it is expected to take care of your parents quite literally for a child. Because the responsibility factor is greater in our cultures. This also means any deviation from a stable life is taboo, but it has its positives, loneliness, depression is not a prevalent in Asian societies, maybe because depression is a taboo in and of itself or because the support system is always there, you always have someone to come home to and share your day. This is a very big plus. So the responsibility factor keeps one from reevaluating one’s role in this society.
When I first saw the idea of gender fluidity, I mixed it up with transgenderism, now transgenderism isn’t a new thing for people in my continent, we have seen intersex people in our society being discriminated against also people transitioning for lifestyle choices, but the phenomenon of there more than 2 genders is a completely new concept. Also the fluid part, you can change your gender because you feel like you’re in your wrong body was also new, I guess its because we use the words gender and sex interchangeably, there is no question there are two sexes with intersex being the anomaly, and because of the relation to biology the conventional though in south Asia is that gender is a representation of biology. We don’t get the idea of “social construct”. Because anything social is biological and ideological. Also this made sense for you for thousands of years, our literature, our songs our art all reflect heteronormative perspectives. And we’ve never considered this to be something that is hiding or missing something.
But times are catching up to us, the young upper class who can afford I phones are conscious about gender, but the young middle class is still skeptical, because following the western way is always a trait the upper class possesses. They speak their own language in an accent, they followed the trend of baggy pants, basketball shorts and air jordans, so why wouldn’t they follow this trend. The question then becomes does the third world accept gender fluidity? The best answer is only yes but after overcoming a cultural struggle. The upper class first needs to fight for their voice in this issue, because the young upper class may be vigilant, but the upper class parents who make the policies just don’t care. So a generational barrier needs to be overcomed, then the cultural struggle will start. It’ll probably be an ideological struggle, but not a class issue like the western culture, because just like every other liberal taking point in developing societies, the upper class is always the main arbiter of this voice.
