Post by carcinoGeneticist on May 31, 2011 6:45:18 GMT -5
Xenon drabbles to try and get back into writing. The muses are there, but I feel all sorts of rusted and like I need to relearn how to talk to them. Wish me luck.
First we have Rowan, tackling the subject of gender (or lack thereof). I had a lot of long discussions about this in a number of different classes! So whee.
Words: 488
It was such an ugly word.
It was an everyday part of speech, used to describe anything for which there seemed to be no better word. Other Cards used it without thinking, in place of the proper names of things, of rabid Banders, of items and possessions. But never, never to describe people, except as the highest of insults.
For example, once Rowan had heard a high-ranked Heart describe a much more unfortunate Club, describing the way she had begged for change in terms that broke the Diamond's heart into a thousand pieces. "It was a waste of space," he had declared, and his friend had laughed, the cruel sounds ringing out into a still night. Even considering it now made Rowan feel distinctly queasy.
Even in their hermaphroditic society, Cards were always given a distinction - "he" or "she", depending on which they more biologically resembled. The few who were more of both than they were of one or the other, they were given a choice, to make the distinction for themselves. Almost all of those that Rowan had encountered felt strongly, one way or another, or they very happily accepted either pronoun. In rare cases, a new word was used, one that carried aspects of both. Shi and hir, for the most part, covered that strange point of in-between that was unique to parts of society.
But what if one was neither?
It was unreasonable to tell Rowan to simply decide one or the other, for neither applied. Rowan felt at balance, but the rest of the world seemed to seek some kind of change in that.
They called Rowan he, she, they, and sometimes - sometimes they called Rowan "it".
The Diamond could not fully fault them. Society had left the others ill-equipped to deal with a biology such as Rowan's, from the disease that did not kill to the complete lack of any reproductive organs. The people who used the word were not speaking out of cruelty, only out of a lack of understanding. This was something that needed, desperately, to change. Libraries were scoured, for any other mention of a neuter in society, or even a person who had decided to live a life that was free of the gendered norm. How had they dealt with the strains of such a life? How had they thought of themselves? Rowan's mind was abuzz with questions, and book after book fell prey to the desperate search for knowledge that was all-consuming in the youth's mind.
Finally, an answer was revealed.
A scribble at the bottom of the page, a seemingly-random collection of letters. "Zie," Rowan whispered, feeling the sound of it on zir tongue and smiling when zie found that they were very much to zir taste.
No more would Rowan be "it". This would not be the end to this battle, of course, because society at-large was still oblivious to zir plight. But it was a start, even if only in zir own mind.
First we have Rowan, tackling the subject of gender (or lack thereof). I had a lot of long discussions about this in a number of different classes! So whee.
Words: 488
It was such an ugly word.
It was an everyday part of speech, used to describe anything for which there seemed to be no better word. Other Cards used it without thinking, in place of the proper names of things, of rabid Banders, of items and possessions. But never, never to describe people, except as the highest of insults.
For example, once Rowan had heard a high-ranked Heart describe a much more unfortunate Club, describing the way she had begged for change in terms that broke the Diamond's heart into a thousand pieces. "It was a waste of space," he had declared, and his friend had laughed, the cruel sounds ringing out into a still night. Even considering it now made Rowan feel distinctly queasy.
Even in their hermaphroditic society, Cards were always given a distinction - "he" or "she", depending on which they more biologically resembled. The few who were more of both than they were of one or the other, they were given a choice, to make the distinction for themselves. Almost all of those that Rowan had encountered felt strongly, one way or another, or they very happily accepted either pronoun. In rare cases, a new word was used, one that carried aspects of both. Shi and hir, for the most part, covered that strange point of in-between that was unique to parts of society.
But what if one was neither?
It was unreasonable to tell Rowan to simply decide one or the other, for neither applied. Rowan felt at balance, but the rest of the world seemed to seek some kind of change in that.
They called Rowan he, she, they, and sometimes - sometimes they called Rowan "it".
The Diamond could not fully fault them. Society had left the others ill-equipped to deal with a biology such as Rowan's, from the disease that did not kill to the complete lack of any reproductive organs. The people who used the word were not speaking out of cruelty, only out of a lack of understanding. This was something that needed, desperately, to change. Libraries were scoured, for any other mention of a neuter in society, or even a person who had decided to live a life that was free of the gendered norm. How had they dealt with the strains of such a life? How had they thought of themselves? Rowan's mind was abuzz with questions, and book after book fell prey to the desperate search for knowledge that was all-consuming in the youth's mind.
Finally, an answer was revealed.
A scribble at the bottom of the page, a seemingly-random collection of letters. "Zie," Rowan whispered, feeling the sound of it on zir tongue and smiling when zie found that they were very much to zir taste.
No more would Rowan be "it". This would not be the end to this battle, of course, because society at-large was still oblivious to zir plight. But it was a start, even if only in zir own mind.
