“LET’S JUST CALL PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT TO BE CALLED …”
|| By MANDE WILKES || If social media is any barometer, tons of people are refusing to recognize Bruce Jenner’s new identity. Is s/he a man, still? A woman? In which public restroom will s/he go to pee? What of the state of his genitals?
These are the questions that roil people. I don’t get it – I’ll give anyone, celebrity or civilian, the dignity of labeling themselves. And I’ll acknowledge and adopt that label, because what good does it do me to argue?
But that’s just me – agreeble, loveable, go-along-to-get along. (Ha…) I’m not looking to change minds, here, because that too is futile. So dig in your (high) heels, I don’t care.
Consider this, though: President Barack Obama is half black . . . meaning he’s also half white. Yet he’s universally regarded as the country’s first black president. No one refers to him as half-black – he’s simply black.
Why? Whatever the reasoning, I urge you to apply it to the Bruce Jenner debate.
For the slow-witted readers (and that lot is legion), I’ll spell it out for you. The answer is that Obama refers to himself as a black person, and so we do too. We don’t engage in protracted exegeses about his DNA or the precise level of melanin in his dermis. Or the state of his genitals, which in this case too might be determinative. He says he’s black, he appears black(ish), so we all just agree.
Because that’s the polite response, and therefore the correct one.
I mean, can you imagine if whole segments of the population started refusing to recognize Obama as a black man? As it is I’m half-expecting the NAACP to send me a cease-and-desist in response to this article.
Yikes …
That’s ok, though. A black man on Facebook commented on my photo, recently, that I could “pass” as a black woman. (It was a head shot, just … had this person glimpsed my backside, all doubt hastily would’ve cleared.)
Anyway, I’m side-eyeing this whole “debate.” Never have I seen such wily and concocted proclamations about God and his intentions.
Now I’m just another socially liberal Jew (passing as black…), but still. Since we’re personifying God, here, I think he’d decree that embarrassing anyone stomps on the spirit of that whole “southern hospitality” thing – and so rather than be indelicate, let’s just call people what they want to be called. Because what harm is there in that, really?
Mande Wilkes is a wife, mother, businesswoman, author, etc. residing on the South Carolina coast with her family. Email her at m@mandewilkes.com.
79 comments
First!
LMAO!!!!
I was GrandTango’s first! LMAO!!! LMAO!!!
Tango is so thrilled with Jenner he started eating Wheaties again. With whole milk.
That’s not a “milk mustache” he’s sporting…
“A black man on Facebook commented on my
photo, recently, that I could “pass” as a black woman. (It was a head
shot, just … had this person glimpsed my backside, all doubt hastily
would’ve cleared.)”
WHOA! Stereo-type people much?
No more so than Will with his snarky comment about the female co-star of Philip Seymour Hoffman having “Junk in her trunk”. This is a black ghetto put-down of a black woman with a big ass (or, politely, a big “booty”). It is almost exclusively used in the “black community” – really a snarky put-down for all people of color who are afflicted with steatopygia. See Michener’s “Africa” (I would italicize it, or underline it, as it is a book title, but this crummy Disqus won’t translate the fonts over).
Don’t worry Mande – my daughter-in-law is apparently pure Caucasian, and she, her mother, and her sister are textbook examples of persons with steatopygia. The malady does occur in all races and mixes, it just is more prevalent in the African tribal ancestries.
While I’m here, and before I get edited out of existence as has become recently prevalent on fitsnews, I really liked the dark-haired Mande better. Much more striking, and we all know you’re NOT a dumb blonde.
“I really liked the dark-haired Mande better. Much more striking, and we all know you’re NOT a dumb blonde.”
ditto from here… (sigh)
Nobody is editing anyone off of this site. Some delete their own messages and/or accounts, and that is their/our prerogative. pogo’s and GT’s nonsense to the contrary, this site is not censored and controlled in that way.
HTML is allowed on Disqus. Like so. (without the spaces in the code) yields: Like so
One reason basically Afro-centric genetic dispositions toward certain traits and maladies exist across different races is that most everyone has some African DNA, even if it’s only an extremely small amount.
The likelihood of these traits and maladies being more common among “whites” is much higher in the Southeast, where “pure” Caucasians are rare as hens teeth.
Thank God!
that’s because everyone descended from the original African first man and woman.
that’s simple enough for even you to understand, Buzzman
so like
Man, I thought Jew girls were smart. This chick (?) cleared that one up for me!
Yeah, except for the President literally does have dark skin, and Bruce Jenner is literally a male, not a female… you know, chromosomes and all…
Good read Mande.I may not agree with your politics but thank you for the smile. Well done.
Fake post!!!!I’m real tired of you perverts hijacking my screen name here.Hope Fits get slammed in his lawsuit.That’s what he gets for letting liberal gay perverts like Buzz,Rocky.and Syntwit post here.If this keeps up I’m going to leave forever and NEVER come back!!
FC – if it makes you feel better – even as a liberal “pervert” I think Jenner is just plain weird. Forget the gender, he looks like a Michael Jackson wannabe. I do believe you are either gay or not. What I don’t buy is this whole stunt. I think it’s a long term play for ratings – what next – T-Rav becomes Miss T-Rav?
Nice try Rocky. Well done Mande!
Stop hijacking my screen name Rocky and Buzz!!!!
1. You definitely couldn’t pass for black
2. This country has historically labeled anyone with black grandparents as black and anyone born with a penis a man.
Therefore, you’re still a white liberal Jew, Barack Obama is black, and Bruce Caitlin Jenner is still a man
Speaking of looks, what made you go with the 12 year old boy skateboarder look?
What the fuck business is it of yours!
Because I have to look at it when I open any of her articles. If she’s going to write articles on looks, maybe she should look into a mirror and see what she’s done to her own looks.
Besides I wasn’t talking to you, bitch.
Touchy little whiner, aintcha?
You responded to the wrong person.
“Besides I wasn’t talking to you, bitch.”
LOL Just LOL. Squishy – never has anything positive to say about anything – ever. Prove me wrong Squishy! LOL
Caitlyn Jenner:
I’d hit it, with a bat.(put it out of its misery)
Might want to use a long bat – Caitlyn has some athletic prowess in her background and doubt you’d be able to outrun her either if she came after you.
“Athletic prowess”?
You are the queen of understatement. She competed against and beat MEN, back in the day!!
Today I decided to self-identify as handicapped — and got myself a nice parking space right in front of my building! Maybe tomorrow I’ll put on eye makeup and self-identify as Asian.
I’m going to self identify as a good looking millionaire. Everyone please now call me “Good looking millionaire” from here on out.
Me, I’m Black Irish, but I can’t find any “special” privileges I’m entitled to … Oh, well …
“Today I decided to self-identify as handicapped — and got myself a nice parking space right in front of my building! ”
Might want to be careful what you wish for – there is a whole lot more to being handicapped than getting to park in those nice parking spaces. And anyway, those handicapped spots are usually taken by non-handicapped persons anyway.
If Bruce wants to be Caitlyn so be it. If any he want’s to be she or visa versa, I could care less, just pay for it your self.
I actually agree and I am sure she had plenty of money to do just that.
I didn’t know who this idiot was, or any of his idiot family, until these sorts of stories started popping up on several of the politicaleconomic news sites I visit. There is always nonsense like this going on, I just don’t like it getting shoved down my throat (no pun intended). Who cares about trash like this?
you’d never heard of Bruce Jenner?
Guest must be very young. Wasn’t Bruce Jenner on the Wheaties box?
Yes. For many years. World champion athlete.
So is Mande a blonde?
Just from the eyebrows up.
Are reform Jews?
Will, I appreciate that you ironically label drivel like this as “good stuff.”
Just heard a story on NPR that caused me to think.
And “reporters” don’t even question or challenge this any more:
Reporter: “Just to be clear, you were born as a woman, but now identify as a man?”
Guest: “No one is born a man or a woman. I was assigned a female identity at birth.”
No. To be clear, animals have two genders. Male and female. You are born one or the other. The fact that you deny reality does not mean that reality ceases to exist.
But the AMA is no longer allowed to classify transgenderism as a mental illness.
If you deny reality you are delusional. If you are delusional you are mentally ill.
You cannot compel sane people to continence your delusion.
You are not an X trapped in a Y body. You have an illness that is causing you to deny, reject and loathe your own identity.
That is the reality. Just to be clear.
There is all sort of mental illness. People suffer. Society is not forced to accept that the auditory hallucinations of schizophrenics are legitimate! If someone declares that they speak to God and angels guide them, we not only dismiss it, we ridicule it–but let a reality TV personality decide to mutilate their genitalia and we all have to say how brave it is.
Oliver Sacks details cases of people whose mental illness caused them to believe that a leg, an arm or a hand did not actually belong to them. They were terrified of having this alien appendage attached to them and went to surgeons begging to have them removed. Do we accept that this is legitimate or do we treat them?
Actually, there is a med mal lawsuit proceeding in Cola which bears on your issue. A child was born with both male and female genitalia, which is uncommon but not exceedingly rare. The lawsuit is over the decision of medical folks to “make a call” when the child was but two years old. The doctors chose to remove the penis (my bet is they didn’t think it was big enough), but the child has grown to the age of ten as a boy. So how does that jibe with your dumbfuckery?
Good comment.
I was wondering how long it would take someone to trot out a rare, congenital mutation to try to make a counterargument. I don’t think that makes the case.
“Sticking feathers in your ass does not make you a chicken. “
To clarify, the comment “I was assigned a female identity at birth” was preceded by the assertion that “No one is born male or female”. The speaker was stating that gender is totally fluid, (not that he or she was born with dual genitalia.) This simply flies in the face of rationality.
“Sticking feathers in your ass does not make you a chicken.”
If you tickle my ass with them I’ll crow for you.
Mande, I can relate 100%. I’m a socially liberal Jew passing as black, too.
No I’m not. But it was sure fun typing that.
I do agree that it is polite to call people what they want to be called. I also agree that being polite is not a horrible thing.
I strongly believe that the Vanity Fair cover deeply disturbed a lot of men who are insecure in their own sexual identity — because they found Caitlyn (in that particular photo) to be an attractive woman. Problem being not that she is transgender, but that she is 65. YIKES!!!!
[Big Grinny Face]
so if a man looks at the Vanity Fair cover and is disturbed by the sight of a man who has transformed himself into a woman that makes him unsure of his male sexuality? is that the ridiculous unoriginal liberal leaning pablumou have chosen to postulate. come on now buzz man you can do better than that
I see Pogo/GT has a new target today. Just keep on grinning :)
You???? — pass for anything even APPROACH-ING even BLACK-ish?
Nahhhh. (An opinion from another Balck man).
BTW, Pres. Obama is biracial and he identifies as so. He does not embrace the “I’m Black” mentality. And… Bruce Jenner is a man
Obama has stated he’s biracial, but he very much self-identifies as a black man. Much as any of us might think he’s only part black, the “one drop rule” still applies. Any degree of “black blood” allows someone to be officially black. By law. So you’re full of shit “Andy.”
My goodness you are an idiot. there is no such rule of law ya pea brain. there is no law that mandates the race of someone ibased on their mixture of races. We no longer live in the Jim Crow deep south era. but maybe you do. And pleasantly, yes I am full of shit and so are you. that’s why we have bowel movements
pogo with a new Disqus account:
None of the one-drop policies are official law today, but they are an acceptation, where African-American identity is concerned. If you think this is not so, ask any light-skinned black person with recognizable “black” features how hard it has been for them to be legally classified as African-American. Then ask the average person with any degree of American Indian ancestry who has “white features” or “black features”, and “matching” skintones to those ethnic identifers, how hard it is for them to get documentation for their self-identification as “Indian” or “Native American.” The latter has an extremely difficult time of it. The former, no difficulty at all.
This is all by design, and you are obviously too slow-witted and incurious about historical reality to even discuss it intelligently. There was at time in history when people were forced to be “black” if they had any black blood, in order to keep more people as slaves (including those sired by white masters.” Later, even dark-skinned Indians were classed as “black” or “mulatto” — guess why? — in order to keep them as slaves, too. For whatever reason(s), the “one-drop rule” still applies.
This is all documented history. You are a racist buffoon who would know not know historical reality if it bit you on your miserable, dishonest ass.
Sick subject. I rate it 10 thumbs down. Its been thrown in the worlds face just w-a-a-a-a-a-y too many times.
Johns Hopkins Psychiatrist: Transgender is ‘Mental Disorder;’ Sex Change ‘Biologically Impossible’ ….. Dr. Paul R. McHugh, the former psychiatrist-in-chief for Johns Hopkins Hospital and its current Distinguished Service Professor of Psychiatry, said that transgenderism is a “mental disorder” that merits treatment, that sex change is “biologically impossible,” and that people who promote sexual reassignment surgery are collaborating with and promoting a mental disorder … $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ for surgeons and hospitals. How much did the freak Jenner spend?
There’s a lot of harm in it actually. Bruce Jenner is being glamorized, rather than pitied. Society is adding him to the list of normalcy – LGBTQ… Let’s be honest, do you think a person who has his penis chopped off can ever really enjoy sex?
I think I was born a common female. But I was meant to be royalty. So I am asking everyone to call me Princess Mom.
Hi Princess Mom!
SCBlues Dear, You are now required to curtsy when speaking to me.
SYNTwist Darlin’, you are also expected to curtsy when addressing me.
Oh and I’m going to buy a pretty crown and getting a little cosmetic surgery so that I look more “princess-like.”
Does it matter?
“Everyone should have the dignity of labeling themselves”? You are a empty-headed PC twit. So, if this nutbag Jenner had deluded himself by walking around with his hand tucked in his shirt believing himself to be Napoleon Bonaparte, the media and the public at large should be obligated to celebrate him and refer to him from now on as “Emperor” ? It’s really true….liberalism IS a mental disorder.
Bruce Jenner was born a man and therefore is a man. The Obama analogy doesn’t work because he was born bi-racial. Michael Jackson is a more appropriate analogy. He was born black and no matter how much he bleached his skin he was still black.
It’s time for me to come out. I’m a lesbian; been one since I was 15 or so. There…it’s done. I feel so much better.
It was never in doubt – you come across as very butch, Michael!
I feel you pain, Bro…. er, Sister! Life ain’t easy if you’re an out of the closet carpet muncher as are we.
Is Barack Obama a Black Woman?
No, and neither is his wife. I keed, I keed!
He/She is according to and compared to Moochelle.
Why does Obama say he is the first BLACK president when this is not true? He is not 100% black so needs to own it just as old Brucey is not a female nor will he ever be so he needs to own it…..keep it real! folks
Google “one-drop rule” and you might get it.
How soon until we see a Caitlyn Jenner sex tape? You know it’s going to happen.
Dark Hair Mande > Blonde Mande
What is up with deleting my comment – detected as spam? Really?
A ha! This appears to be a Disqus issue.
What an incredibly strong human being.’Before you abuse,criticize,and accuse,walk a mile in my shoes’-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_IRzJDGiHU