ok... for the record, what I wrote previously was written in response to the government officials who want to make cloning human beings illegal. I wouldn't post an open topic and tell people to shut up. That's not what I'm about at all. It was sort of like yelling at the tv screen.
This is the way I see it...
This is a perfect example of 2 things. 1. Patriarchy, and 2. No separation of church and state.
People are talking about God and what they believe to be God's law in all of this. That should not be considered in law making. Laws should exist to punish people who willingly hurt other people. Cloning won't hurt anyone. There are plenty of "birth defects" in pregnancies already. Should we make pregnancy illegal?
I think that the boys in charge are damn scared of advances in the field of genetics. Why? Because one day it might be possible to not need sperm. They'll support research for an artificial womb before supporting something that might make sperm unnecessary.
For the record, if I was in a better financial place and had a wife, I'd love for her to carry my clone or splice her DNA with mine and carry the child. It's the ONLY way I'll ever be able to have a child of my own. Adoption is always an option, but it is WAY different. It takes a very special person to raise an adopted child, and it's possible that I may choose to take on that responsibility myself one day... but it's DIFFERENT. Being adopted adds challenges that aren't there with biological children. Challenges that I'm not sure that I could handle emotionally. Either way though, if it could be possible for me to have a child that was biologically mine, I'd want to have that option open to me.
I'd also love to see people growing new arms, legs, breasts, fingers, toes, vital organs.... people shouldn't have to suffer if there's an alternative... and most people I know would gladly risk new/unapproved methods in order to feel "normal" again and have a happier life.
It just seems as if the people in charge are making decisions based on what allows them to keep power, and not on what will most benefit people as a whole.
(and...)
Yes... it makes me nervous... and I DO think there should be some laws... again... to protect people from harm/abuse, etc.
For example, if you clone me without permission, you should be prosecuted. If you treat a clone as anything other than human, you should be prosecuted...
The possible organ market... the classist potential... the potential of giving people another "thing" to hate... yes, that worries me too... but...
I don't think that cloning should be declared illegal.
(and personally... I think they've already done it. It takes 15 years for the government to let new technologies hit the masses. In my opinion, they've already succeeded and this is ALL about power, money, and control.)
Wednesday, August 8, 2001
Tuesday, August 7, 2001
on cloning (an outburst)
There's been some talk in the news lately... people are planning on cloning a human within about a year's time.
So many people going ape shit about this.
Funny how most of them have had children or are capable of having children with their partners.
I say let the rest of us who cannot have children of our own without the assistance of modern medicine or some sort of divine intervention decide.
Advances in genetics may well lead to the ability to splice the dna of people... without needing eggs and sperm...maybe some day it will be possible for gay couples to have children who are biologically part of both of them. I say we ask the Homosexual population about all of this.
Cloning might well lead to the ability to grow new limbs... and other body parts lost to disease and injury. I say we ask some amputees and women who have battled breast cancer for their take on it.
I think the breeders should shut the fuck up.
So many people going ape shit about this.
Funny how most of them have had children or are capable of having children with their partners.
I say let the rest of us who cannot have children of our own without the assistance of modern medicine or some sort of divine intervention decide.
Advances in genetics may well lead to the ability to splice the dna of people... without needing eggs and sperm...maybe some day it will be possible for gay couples to have children who are biologically part of both of them. I say we ask the Homosexual population about all of this.
Cloning might well lead to the ability to grow new limbs... and other body parts lost to disease and injury. I say we ask some amputees and women who have battled breast cancer for their take on it.
I think the breeders should shut the fuck up.
Friday, August 3, 2001
90
Wandering aimlessly
Up and down
The bleeding paths
of my own mind
Getting lost
In my own
self
loathing
The feeling of emptiness
Within
Pain and despair
Akin to life
after death
Echo
Follow
Lead me
To you
Want to consume you
use you
abuse
Myself
Want to heal and fill
Myself
With your essence
Bleed you
Empty you
to satisfy
My tortured self
Instead
The cool metal blades mock me
Wandering aimlessly
up and down
The bleeding arms
of my body
Getting lost
In my own
Self
Dying
© 1995 (by JBW)
Up and down
The bleeding paths
of my own mind
Getting lost
In my own
self
loathing
The feeling of emptiness
Within
Pain and despair
Akin to life
after death
Echo
Follow
Lead me
To you
Want to consume you
use you
abuse
Myself
Want to heal and fill
Myself
With your essence
Bleed you
Empty you
to satisfy
My tortured self
Instead
The cool metal blades mock me
Wandering aimlessly
up and down
The bleeding arms
of my body
Getting lost
In my own
Self
Dying
© 1995 (by JBW)
Thursday, August 2, 2001
(My Board) Stats
Totals Summary (since 10/27/00)
Visits: 124212
Posts: 12033 (and I've read every single last one of them.)
Average Visits (daily): 592
Average Posts per day: 59 (including 8/2)
help?
Visits: 124212
Posts: 12033 (and I've read every single last one of them.)
Average Visits (daily): 592
Average Posts per day: 59 (including 8/2)
help?
Wednesday, July 25, 2001
To clarify
I call you a man.
I do this NOT because I know the universal definition of "man" or "male", NOT because I've seen your picture, and NOT because you conform to my own personal definition of such. I call you a man because that is how you choose to identify yourself.
The same thing can be applied to Weres and Vamps. No matter what my own personal definition is, it's still not for me to tell other people what they should consider themselves to be... and the more I talk to people whose definitions of these terms vary from my own, the more I end up adapting my own definitions.
I'm in no way perfect with this. I'm as affected by my upbringing as anyone else... I'm just trying to grow even further than those who "taught" me. I often fall prey to the labeling game... if not out loud, then in my own head. I just see this as conditioning though... and I logically know my instincts or reactions to be... well... wrong. Every time I judge someone, I kick myself... but I still do it in the first place.
In my experience, when you attempt to go through life reliant on universal definitions, you always end up hurting someone... often you hurt yourself.
Someone once told me to try to go through life saying "I" more and "you" less. Define yourself... let others define themselves. This made a lot of sense to me.
You wrote,"You were born a man/woman and now through hormones and surgery were the opposite. "
That's seeing sex as polarized. Most of what I'm getting at is that sex/gender is nearly impossible to scientifically polarize. Not ALL men can claim to share one common trait, nor can ALL women. In fact, on a rather concrete and scientific level, it's impossible to state the definition of man or woman... male or female.
What if it's that a person was born a woman, but had parts, like a penis and testicles, that felt wrong to her so she had corrective surgery? What if the person was born and felt that her parts, even her penis and testicles, were fine, but that she was a woman, no matter what everyone else told her to believe? Whose right is it to tell her that she's not? Maybe it's just up to us to adapt our definitions of what a "woman" is.
If you came to me tomorrow and told me you were a woman, and preferred to be addressed as such, I'd consider you and call you a woman. I don't care what you look like or what you do or don't have between your legs. There's nothing about you that would have to change. You're a woman because you say so.
The way I see it, there's no one thing that makes the man, or the woman... except for the individual preference of label. I call myself "Intersexed" because I feel the label... how I understand the meaning of it, fits. I prefer male pronouns because I feel they fit me better than female ones and feel less dehumanizing than "it" or some of the newer developed ones like "heesh". It's just a preference... one based on the definitions I've learned (right or wrong) and the stereotypes that are out there. It's not because I have a beard or anything thing else on a physical level, and it's not because the law recognizes me as such. It's just my choice... and people who respect me, will respect that choice... even if they can't apply the same definitions to themselves or to others around them.
My definitions are my definitions. They change as I learn. I change as I learn.
Am I a man?
Depends on the day you ask me.
Are you?
That's up to you... and if you change your mind... so will I.
I do this NOT because I know the universal definition of "man" or "male", NOT because I've seen your picture, and NOT because you conform to my own personal definition of such. I call you a man because that is how you choose to identify yourself.
The same thing can be applied to Weres and Vamps. No matter what my own personal definition is, it's still not for me to tell other people what they should consider themselves to be... and the more I talk to people whose definitions of these terms vary from my own, the more I end up adapting my own definitions.
I'm in no way perfect with this. I'm as affected by my upbringing as anyone else... I'm just trying to grow even further than those who "taught" me. I often fall prey to the labeling game... if not out loud, then in my own head. I just see this as conditioning though... and I logically know my instincts or reactions to be... well... wrong. Every time I judge someone, I kick myself... but I still do it in the first place.
In my experience, when you attempt to go through life reliant on universal definitions, you always end up hurting someone... often you hurt yourself.
Someone once told me to try to go through life saying "I" more and "you" less. Define yourself... let others define themselves. This made a lot of sense to me.
You wrote,"You were born a man/woman and now through hormones and surgery were the opposite. "
That's seeing sex as polarized. Most of what I'm getting at is that sex/gender is nearly impossible to scientifically polarize. Not ALL men can claim to share one common trait, nor can ALL women. In fact, on a rather concrete and scientific level, it's impossible to state the definition of man or woman... male or female.
What if it's that a person was born a woman, but had parts, like a penis and testicles, that felt wrong to her so she had corrective surgery? What if the person was born and felt that her parts, even her penis and testicles, were fine, but that she was a woman, no matter what everyone else told her to believe? Whose right is it to tell her that she's not? Maybe it's just up to us to adapt our definitions of what a "woman" is.
If you came to me tomorrow and told me you were a woman, and preferred to be addressed as such, I'd consider you and call you a woman. I don't care what you look like or what you do or don't have between your legs. There's nothing about you that would have to change. You're a woman because you say so.
The way I see it, there's no one thing that makes the man, or the woman... except for the individual preference of label. I call myself "Intersexed" because I feel the label... how I understand the meaning of it, fits. I prefer male pronouns because I feel they fit me better than female ones and feel less dehumanizing than "it" or some of the newer developed ones like "heesh". It's just a preference... one based on the definitions I've learned (right or wrong) and the stereotypes that are out there. It's not because I have a beard or anything thing else on a physical level, and it's not because the law recognizes me as such. It's just my choice... and people who respect me, will respect that choice... even if they can't apply the same definitions to themselves or to others around them.
My definitions are my definitions. They change as I learn. I change as I learn.
Am I a man?
Depends on the day you ask me.
Are you?
That's up to you... and if you change your mind... so will I.
Wednesday, July 18, 2001
Choices
((If you had to choose) Would you choose to die before your beloved companion, or would you choose for them to die before you do?)
It's tough to choose giving up that comfort on the death bed... but I'd choose to go last. I'd rather she (or he) not have to suffer the pain of loss.
I've often said that the price you pay for getting everything you've ever wanted in life is the fear of losing it all.
It wasn't an easy decision for me by any means. Actually, one of the thoughts that ran through my head was "what if they find someone else after I'm gone and then they never join me if there's an afterlife?" How's that for selfish?
I just weighed the options, and actually, the deciding factors were the thoughts that came to mind while attempting to apply it to my life now. I have no partner, but I do have a best friend that I love very much. Very often it is her being on the planet that stops me from offing myself. I just couldn't hurt her like that. I just applied it to what I might feel with a lover. I don't think that I could bear causing them to suffer, or knowing that they might be. I'd rather be the one to bear the loss, at least that's a pain I know that I can deal with.
It's tough to choose giving up that comfort on the death bed... but I'd choose to go last. I'd rather she (or he) not have to suffer the pain of loss.
I've often said that the price you pay for getting everything you've ever wanted in life is the fear of losing it all.
It wasn't an easy decision for me by any means. Actually, one of the thoughts that ran through my head was "what if they find someone else after I'm gone and then they never join me if there's an afterlife?" How's that for selfish?
I just weighed the options, and actually, the deciding factors were the thoughts that came to mind while attempting to apply it to my life now. I have no partner, but I do have a best friend that I love very much. Very often it is her being on the planet that stops me from offing myself. I just couldn't hurt her like that. I just applied it to what I might feel with a lover. I don't think that I could bear causing them to suffer, or knowing that they might be. I'd rather be the one to bear the loss, at least that's a pain I know that I can deal with.
Sunday, July 8, 2001
(Art forms which I'm into?)
With visual/still arts (drawing and the like), I'm a pen, pencil, and ink junkie. I've done some paintings, but I prefer more intricate stuff. I have a project that is on a 30x42 Xerox type of paper... most of it was done using a magnifying glass.
With art as a whole, the only thing which never caught my heart was dance. Dance just always felt sexual to me, and unless I've had WAY too much to drink, or I'm head over heels in lust, I just DON'T dance. I'll sooner have sex.
With art as a whole, the only thing which never caught my heart was dance. Dance just always felt sexual to me, and unless I've had WAY too much to drink, or I'm head over heels in lust, I just DON'T dance. I'll sooner have sex.
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