Am I Still Human?

From: Sidney
     In this photograph, I am a half “man” and half “woman.” My masculine facial hair shows that I am a man on one side, and my feminine face shows that I am a woman on the other side. So many people in the world are cross sexed, meaning they have both parts of a male and female. Many of them feel confused when it comes to how they should act because of “gender roles” and “gender scripts.” They feel like they are not normal, and admitting to others that they are both sexes is also an embarrassment by making them feel like they have to be a part of one sex and there for one gender.
      Does it make someone not human, if they can’t follow these gender roles and scripts of being a male or female? Do you have to choose one side in order to be a part of the human race, and to be considered normal? In this picture I symbolize the fact that I can look like a man, but I can also look like a woman even though I am a woman. Facial hair is a symbolism for men, and women are only seemed to be classified as a woman if they have no facial hair besides eyebrows and the hair that comes from the head.
     If someone were to look at a person who wore both “girl” and “boys” clothes, and also looked like a “girl” and a “boy” at the same time they would ask the question “are you a boy or a girl?” How can one answer that question truthfully without being looked at like some kind of alien from a different planet? People are raised socially to believe that each person should be acting their certain gender. If you are a girl you should act like a girl “feminine and petite.” If you are a man you should act like a man “masculine and broad.” But what does it mean to be feminine or masculine? Why should a man have to act tough, and a woman have to act so helpless?
     It is true that men and woman do look different physically. Men typically do have more muscle mass and body hair than woman do; but that doesn’t mean that a man can’t have a small statured body, or that a woman cannot have a lot of muscle tone. It doesn’t even make them different from “reality” because in reality everyone is different from each other; no one is the exact same.