F#*king With Gender

[Ed: Expect blog-diarrhoea on GenderF*#k in the next 48 hours or so.]

Tomorrow is GenderF*#k Day 2005.



For the past two months, we’ve organised lots on this: campaign strategy, pan toilet female safety issues, feminist debates, constructionist debates, identity debates, endless, endless emails, press releases, editorials, putting together brochures | info kits | posters | logos, getting special GLBTIQ speakers, media coverage, even getting the queer collectives at Harvard and UCLA on board.

Tomorrow will be the culmination of all our efforts, across the country.

Moral (oh, how I hate the word) of the story/ Message of the campaign:

Gender is a constructed binary.

To Genderfuck is to deliberately send mixed messages about ones sex, usually through dress. ... The purpose is to raise discussion and awareness surrounding Gender, Intersex and Trans issues. Most importantly it is to educate individuals of the sheer complexity of what gender can mean from one person to the next.

Genderf*#k Day May 18th is an opportunity to involve more than just queer students. The aim is to involve entire universities and the community nationally, even internationally as the National Union of Students have begun to inform others in the UK and US. It is a day of action that deals with some tough, challenging and confronting concepts surrounding gender. When you add cultural implications of what gender can be and start deconstructing gender binaries, things start to get really interesting.

As Genderf*#K Day is an action organised by a collective, what happens on the day will depend upon each body of individuals around the country and across the sea who take up the challenge. All student guilds and unions have been invited to take part, not just the queer departments. The original developers of the idea have provided a basic format for people to follow if they wish, encouraging people to provide Pan (non-gender specific) Toilets, hold forums and sell pink and blue ribbons.

Pan Toilets allow us to say, ‘Nup, I don’t have a gender or (sex)’, I mean what are those categories of man and woman good for anyway? They limit our choices, and stereotype people. Bah!’ It has been suggested that universities hold public forums and workshops leading up to the day, inviting guest speakers from various organisation and backgrounds. Melbourne University has held their first forum on April 18th with much success. Queer Departments will be selling Pink and Blue ribbons for people to show their support (funds raised go towards QC in Perth this year). And of course the recommended dress code for the day is Genderfuck
…
To quote Alex Ettling, a Melbourne university Queer officer, ‘[Genderf*#k Day] gives activists something tangible to focus on and provides a visible reminder of what can be achieved when people work together collectively.’ It is also a way of non-queers joining with queers for a day to discuss issues that go beyond sexuality and affect us all. With reference to Kinsey’s sexuality scale we will be developing people's understanding that gender binaries are not for everyone.

Binaries are misleading and do not include the whole community as a society.

Technorati: GenderFuck, LGBT, GLBT, queer activism