Gender Wars

Your Hexagram and You

If you made your own hexagram (Discover it here), you might have spent a minute contemplating your result. One of my intentions was to question what it is we see as masculine or feminine and where in our body or behavior we can “find it.” Also, I wanted to draw attention to the judgment you may have about having a line that represents, maybe something other than what you saw for yourself.

Gender and Sexism

Our society’s ideas about gender are on display everywhere. We see it on billboards, commercials and in everyday exchanges in the media or on the streets. More so these days with the elections nearing.
This is the first time in history, America has a female candidate running for the presidency. In a STARK contrast, the candidate running opposite her, is arguably the most vocal misogynistic man to EVER run for public office.
Mr. Trump already bragged about his “masculinity” on national TV in the Republican primaries debate. On “Dr. Oz” he proudly revealed that his health is in great shape because his testosterone levels are “great!”

This was his face when Dr. Oz read his figures:

He is very proud of his masculinity. (Watch the clip from the Daily show here)
It is clear that Mr. Trump identify strongly with his gonads and his hormonal level. Interestingly enough two things he had absolutely no control over.  I know some women that produce much more testosterone than Mr. Trump. In our society they are known as Intersex. Would Mr. Trump be threatened by them?

Who Controls Who

When some of my friends started taking hormones to facilitate their transition from one sex to the other they shared how surprised they were to find out how much they had no control over their actions. My friends that transitioned from being a female to becoming a male, told that with the testosterone in their system they could not have walked pass a porn store and not enter. They felt more aggressive and horny all the time. So much so that one of my friends told me he had to ask the doctor to reduce the amount of hormones he took.
For whatever reason this kind of behavior is approved, encouraged and normal for men, as we saw Donald Trump thinks he owns the world because he has “a pair” and some testosterone. Unfortunately, I think many people will agree with that.
Ms. Clinton, on the other hand faces a losing battle, because she has estrogen. How ridiculous is that?  A guy once asked me, with the most naive and innocent voice, how can a woman be in charge if she might get PMS? He was VERY serious when he asked this. Women are treated differetly because of hormones. This is sexist. (read Hillary Clinton’s own account here)

Everything Changes

The premise of the I-ching, or the Book of Changes, is that everything does and must change. Yang always becomes yin and yin becomes yang. It is impossible not to change.
In our society, women expect the “change.” Middle-aged women are stigmatized and are treated with hormone replacement therapy. It is a natural decline of production of hormones in the body. It is ridiculous to think that men do not experience similar shifts in hormonal levels, after all Viagra is available for a reason.
What can we learn about a society that does not have a medical word for men’s changes? Western medicine does not pathologize men. Do you really identify with your hormones that much? How would you behave or what would you feel when the changes come?