Identity Crisis!

Understanding identity can be quite challenging for some and Diana Courvant in "Body Outlaws" is no different.  She, as a trans-gender going through the process to become a woman needed to be overly exposed and accepted to finally accept herself.  She writes, "Though I wasn't ashamed of being a trans woman, I began to realize the safety issues inherent of my growing visibility.  Being a freak was dangerous."  It sucks that that is true.  No one really wants to stand out.  Covering Barbie's MOD'rn cousin Francine's melted foot with her new "Prom Pinks" outfit could leave her fitting in with the crowd in "Mondo Barbie: Barbie Q."  And in "Mondo Barbie: The Barbie Murders," the thought of being different is unheard of so much that they consider any one barbie's action a collective group action.

The readings for this weekend really got me thinking about the future of plastic surgery. How can so many people just want to lose their own identities to become something so stereotypical.  It's unbelievable that people would pay so much for bigger boobs or a smaller waist when there are starving children all over the world.  What a waste of money.  Not to mention the risks of surgery.  It just seems like an overall bad idea unless it is to fix an actual problem.  My thoughts are---accept the way YOU are. YOU are beautiful the way you are, so just let the true YOU shine!

So, In any part of language, all words are said and interpreted differently depending on the speaker/listener.  When it comes to writing, there is no difference. However there are many clues as to what a typical female vs what a typical male would write, specifically dealing with topic, details, and emotions.  As a woman, I fell that my topics are always focused more on emotions and described with further detail, or more fluff.  The emotional connectivity to the story is more important than the facts within what's written.  Online, I feel like the differences are even more pronounced.  Typing words I focus on visual ways to bring an audience in and try to make what I say fun.  Many men just get to the point because adding all the "fluff" is useless to them.  They probably don't want to read the extra stuff, so they leave it out.  Seems simple enough to me!