Photo by Del LaGrace Volcano
In their article Queer Blogging in Indian Digital Diasporas, authors Rahul Mitra and Radhika Gajjala carefully avoid falling into the trap of digital dualism, explicitly stating that “by blogging, [members of the Indian Queer community] have not somehow transported into a “virtual reality” that releases them from social, economic, political, material and discursive hierarchies.” However, what I gathered from their article was that these bloggers are able to create more gender-inclusive spaces in which their queer identity is not only accepted, but viewed as simply another part of their self rather than their defining trait (“Queer-identity-integrated-into-self”). This differs radically from their accounts of experiences in physical spaces; as communication scholar Larry Gross wrote “most of us survived in society’s sexual boot camp–high school–either by masquerading and passing, or living on the margins.” (Have you ever read a better description of high school?)
Thus, while “the internet is a critical resource for marginalized or socially suspect groups and subjects, proving a unique means to expres and transit often ostracized ideas and identities,” there is also a gap, or perhaps delay, in the way democratized spaces online are then translated into the physical world; unfortunately, it seems like such spaces may be rare niches–both online and off.
This is eminently clear in the medical treatment of the LGBTQ community. Though Ann Fausto-Sterling’s article “The Five Sexes: Why Male and Female Are Not Enough” originally appeared in 1993, at the time she revisited the article, in 2000, intersex conditions were still often treated as a “disease” with corrective surgies performed on infants and young children. Findings from two needs assessment studies in Philadelphia (in 1997 and 2000) indicate the health care needs of transgender individuals were not being met, and many had been denied health care. The story of one transgendered individual who had trouble getting health care for his cancer was highlighted in the 2001 documentary Southern Comfort.
We remain, in 2012, far from the ideal: acknowledging that “people come in an even wider assortment of sexual identities and characteristics than mere genitals can distinguish” (Fausto-Sterling). In fact, “intersex” isn’t even a word according to the dictionary of the word processor I’m using to write this post. Fausto-Sterling offered in 2000 what seems like a wonderful suggestion: “eliminate the category of “gender” from official documents, such as driver’s licences and passports. Surely attributes both more visible (such as height, build and eye color) and less visible (fingerprints and genetic profiles) would be more expedient.” But society seems to me still light-years away from implementing such policies.
[EDIT: I then wrote a blog post entitled “Navigating Gender-Exclusive Space.” Read it!]
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