The Shifgrethor of Changelings

[Hazumu]

Shifgrethor: to cast a long shadow; prestige, face, place, the pride-relationship, social authority. (language of Karhide; Ursula Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness).

Athena Andreadis

I can understand the worries of the trans community, whose members are trying to gain acceptance as gay people did before them by adopting rigidly orthodox gender roles.  Such stereotyped assignations also occurred in cultures that tolerated intersexes: the North American two-spirited, the Indian hijra.  However, the men's objections reminded me of the "eew" reaction of boys to girls, before the hormonal rise (or is it fall?) of puberty overcomes social conditioning.  They highlight a profound and visceral male unease over blurred identities or breached boundaries – in bodies, gender roles, power; a wish to make an absolute, immovable distinction between penetrator and penetrated, implanter and implanted.

[tekla]

What we hate about academic writing, #19834 in a series.