A Quick Note on Sex & Gender
Sex and gender are not the same things. Biological sex is defined by anatomy and genetics. Gender, however, refers to the manifestation of physiological sex. People with congruent biological sex and manifested gender are termed cisgender. A person whose biological sex and manifested gender are not congruent may be (over broadly) termed transgender, but that does not necessarily mean that a transgender person intends to undergo medical sex reassignment or live as a different sex. More appropriately being “trans” simply means that the person transcends binary gender much in the way that the periodic table contains transitional elements (D-block). The transmetals can have simultaneous metal characteristics and nonmetal characteristics and also alternating metal characteristics and nonmetal characteristics. To continue this analogy, transgender persons have external characteristics of one sex and internal characteristics of the other sex. Genderfluid persons have alternating internal characteristics and constant external characteristics.
Gender does influence sexuality but gender is not determinative of sexuality. In actuality, there are three components at work: Gender Identity, Gender Expression, and Sexual Orientation.Show more ›
A Seriously Old School Performance By Steve Fry
On Clear Communication
I guess I should warn you, if I turn out to be particularly clear, you’ve probably misunderstood what I’ve said. —Alan Greenspan
I know you think you understand what you thought I said but I’m not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant. —Alan Greenspan
Winter Wonderland
More than a light dusting and the earliest area snow that I can recall.
The End of Net Neutrality Won’t Be An Apocalypse
Net neutrality is a good thing, but its demise won’t be the apocalyptic threshold that many “Chicken Littles” prognosticate. There are just too many money-grubbing attorneys chomping at the bit for a juicy class-action suit. Then too, there is also the US Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Consumer Protections Bureau on deck to intervene if the existing laws and court rulings are violated.
Around 100 years ago, the Mann-Elkins Act of 1910 legislatively declared telecommunication networks to be common carriers subject to Congress’ authority to regulate interstate commerce. In 1974, MCI sued AT&T in federal court for violating Mann-Elkins after Illinois Bell (at the time a wholly-owned subsidiary of AT&T) severed all of MCI’s network interconnections. MCI won a $1.8 billion judgement (which was upheld, though reduced, in 1983 by the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals). But ever since the 1970s, telecommunication providers cannot (lawfully) deny network access to a party that is willing and able to pay for the service nor can telecommunication providers charge dissimilar access rates to competitors. In fact, MCI’s initial 1974 victory over AT&T was the very thing that led to the federal government’s antitrust action that resulted in AT&T’s unprecedented breakup.Show more ›
Skirted Gallery (updated)
Bold blokes and badasses around the globe.Show more ›
On Reclaiming One’s Life
No one can give you your life back, so you have to take it back. —Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock in The Defenders S1E1
A timely reminder
Acercarme (LEAD)
Arrebato por Nancy Amancio – Canción y Baile Interpretativo
Gender Equality in the Shadow of 1960s Civil Rights
The outside temperature reached 103° F one recent July afternoon in south Georgia. I once experienced even hotter temperatures in Spain a decade ago, but the gulf humidity here is a beast of a different kind. I bounced to a thrift store in search of extensively used (i.e. breathable) medical scrubs. Little did I know that this simple mission would ignite a profound inquiry into gender equality.Show more ›