Kate Bornstein changing cultural attitudes about gender

1199 Words3 Pages

Courage is not simply about how well you deal with fear, how many noble deeds you accomplish, or how you overcome life threatening situations. Courage is the practice of determination and perseverance. Something like, an unwillingness to abandon a dream even when the pressures of society weigh down on your shoulders; society will make you feel tired, humiliated, broken, and confused. Actually, it can be effortlessly said that daily courage is more significant than bouts of great deeds. Since everybody undergoes demanding circumstances on a daily basis, and most of us will not be called to perform a great deed, courage comes from those daily struggles and successes. However, Kate Bornstein is one person who has been able to transform her everyday life into a brilliant deed of courage. She threw herself into an unknown abyss to discover truth that many others would never dare tread. Ingeniously combining criticism of socially defined boundaries, an intense sense of language, and a candid autobiography, Bornstein is able to change cultural attitudes about gender, insisting that it is a social construct rather than a regular occurrence, through here courageous writing. So why call Bornstein’s writing courageous? People need an interruption from the conventional way of rationalizing life. Bornstein does a remarkable job presenting thought-provoking questions to a society of people who have never examined what it truly means to be a woman or a man in this culture. “One fascinating point stood out as relevant to both gender and group dynamics, providing a link between the two: compliance within a group is set by the naming of good and bad behavior; the former is laudable, the latter is punishable. Either/ or is used as a control mecha... ... middle of paper ... ...ho break the rules, codes, and shackles of gender. Then we have a healthy- sized contingent!” Others will say that society does give a chance to transgendered people to live a normal life. But how is it normal when they are discouraged from looking into their past. “The choice between two of something is not a choice at all, but rather the opportunity to subscribe to the value system which holds the two presented choices as mutually exclusive alternatives.” “The process is nearly identical to the breakup of a relationship, with the transgendered person leaving behind one gender in order to assume another.” Clearly, Bornstein's clever style, individual approach, and forthrightness open doors to examining gender norms and restrictions of our modern society. Kate Bornstein is a woman with a goal, to annihilate the binary gender system in the world as we see it.

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