Normality
One of my favorite concepts from my gender studies courses was the invisible category. Although it must be my favorite by default since I simply didn't grasp most of the other theories we tackled. My favorite way of defining normal is as that which doesn't need to be defined. It becomes the invisible category because no one bothers to create the category-- it's implicitly assumed. Think about the last person you talked to. Think about what you would say to describe him or her to another acquaintance who has never met him or her. I'll even give you a photo so you can think about it while you scroll down.
Okay, what you DIDN'T say is the invisible category. You didn't mention that ze (I'm switching to the gender-neutral pronouns here because the "he or she" thing is tedious) was white? White is part of your normal. You didn't think to say that ze was heterosexual? That's assumed. You didn't say that ze had ten toes? You think that's normal. So there's your invisible category, it's what's default if no specifics are mentioned (obviously a very fluid category that changes drastically between individuals and groups of people).
Oftentimes we don't notice what's normal until something that surprises us occurs. ("What, you're Buddhist? ...Not that you shouldn't be, it's just, well, different!") So I had a few things challenge my conception of reality this weekend. I figured that running anything under a 42minute 10km was fast. I also know that I'm not a fast runner. But then I ran the Apple Blossom 10k in 41:27. Which means that I was wrong in one of my assumptions. And then Anchorage Daily News and fasterskier.com picked up the "story" that I was moving up to Anchorage. Since when has where I live been News? That doesn't mesh with my weltanschauung at all! *weltanschauung means world view and I hope that there will be someone as apt as Kuzzy in Anchorage to explain German words to me.
And the random pictures are from my mom and I making sushi for dinner last night with all kinds of unidentifiable Japanese ingredients (it doesn't help that neither of us can read Japanese characters).
Susan Valaas
Okay, what you DIDN'T say is the invisible category. You didn't mention that ze (I'm switching to the gender-neutral pronouns here because the "he or she" thing is tedious) was white? White is part of your normal. You didn't think to say that ze was heterosexual? That's assumed. You didn't say that ze had ten toes? You think that's normal. So there's your invisible category, it's what's default if no specifics are mentioned (obviously a very fluid category that changes drastically between individuals and groups of people).
Oftentimes we don't notice what's normal until something that surprises us occurs. ("What, you're Buddhist? ...Not that you shouldn't be, it's just, well, different!") So I had a few things challenge my conception of reality this weekend. I figured that running anything under a 42minute 10km was fast. I also know that I'm not a fast runner. But then I ran the Apple Blossom 10k in 41:27. Which means that I was wrong in one of my assumptions. And then Anchorage Daily News and fasterskier.com picked up the "story" that I was moving up to Anchorage. Since when has where I live been News? That doesn't mesh with my weltanschauung at all! *weltanschauung means world view and I hope that there will be someone as apt as Kuzzy in Anchorage to explain German words to me.
And the random pictures are from my mom and I making sushi for dinner last night with all kinds of unidentifiable Japanese ingredients (it doesn't help that neither of us can read Japanese characters).
Susan Valaas
posted by LAV at 20:32
1 Comments:
Fabulous pronoun ...."ze." Had not met it before. Please tell me the possessive and accusative forms. Also great photo of the sushi chef in your kitchen.
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