Dr Daniel K Phillip
T&T is long overdue for a candid discussion of gender expression, gender and the policing of women’s bodies. There is oft a systemic resistance that occurs when we believe there is a threat to our colonial/religious/moral sensibilities. In the case of Aria, this resistance translated into discrimination.
Recently, a young woman attempted to gain admission to this venue and was instructed that she had to pay the entrance fee that is reserved for men; this occurred because she “presented like a man.”
It is indeed curious that Aria’s supporters believe that if you express your gender in a particular way, you automatically identify with that gender and should be treated as such.
A few months ago when CNC3 aired a segment about Kayla Marraste, a transgender woman living in Trinidad, many people were left aghast and automatically invalidated her identity, stating that no matter how she appeared, she would always be perceived as a man.
So, which is it fellow Trinis? If we plan on being prejudicial and discriminatory, could we, at the very least, be consistent? We cannot continue to conflate gender expression (how we communicate our affirmed gender to the world) with gender identity (our internal sense of being a man, woman, neither or both).
If we say a woman who dresses in “masculine attire” magically transforms into a man, then you cannot dismiss the identity of trans people who present themselves in their affirmed identities.
Now, let’s look at how we fuel a system that reduces women to commercial items. We cannot say we love, appreciate and value women and then uphold these archaic ideals of heels and makeup as “acceptable” and “attractive” forms of womanhood.
We cannot say we love, appreciate and value women and then police how they express their gender. We cannot say we love, appreciate and value women and then objectify and use them as marketing ploys to increase party sales, only to subject them to the male gaze.
There is something truly sick about offering women as incentives, as if they are available for men’s consumption.
In order to grow, we need to challenge these systems that maintain the disenfranchisement of its citizens.