I think the term "white saviour" has long been used to apply to white protagonists who have made it their life's mission to save poorer non-white people from slavery, poverty, sex work-no matter how consensual-and then glorifying their "work" so it becomes more about what a great person they are, this white person helping all these non-white people more then the people in this predicaments in the first place. However in recent more Tumblr days I am starting to believe in "western saviourism", which all western people of all races can do.
"Western saviourism" is like "white saviourism" as in western people make it their life's mission to protect the poorer non-western people from cultural appropriation by glorifying their "work" and cultural segregation and ignorance on the topic. Some people now refuse to eat Chinese food from restaurants because they claim its appropriating Chinese culture; neglecting the fact that majority if not all Chinese restaurants are run by Chinese families who would have no income other then their earnings from their Chinese restaurant. If an immigrate family can not earn money, unless they are asylum seekers, they will be deported back. Its also worth noting that eating Chinese food from Chinese restaurants run by Chinese families is not cultural appropriation but cultural exchange and to deny cultural exchange is cultural segregation. Cultural segregation just enforces western supremacy and is ignorant. If someone refused to eat Arabic food on the grounds that it was not part of their culture, as someone of Yemeni heritage, I would not see this as a sign of respect for my culture but would be offended that they did not want to partake in my cultural foods.
A good example of western saviourism is Avril Lavigne's 'Hello Kitty' music video. Many Japanese-Americans or British Japanese people said how offensive and racist the video was and said that native Japanese people living in Japan did not understand racism or oppression. Western Japanese "protected" Japanese people living in Japan by telling them they should find this video racist and offensive.
As a pangender person I find myself faced with western saviourism and having to defend my gender all the time, even in the pangender tag which is suppose to be a safe space for pangender individuals to go. I should not have to explain or fight for my gender, people should be allowed to identify as any gender they want.
The claim that pangender is cultural appropriation of gender is not only hurtful and false, but wrong. I have spoken about this issue before on this blog here and I have made posts on Tumblr about the very same issues here, here, here, here, and here. I am always always having to defend myself and other pangenders who are attacked because people do not understand how pangender works.
Pangender is not cultural appropriation; the idea behind pangender being cultural appropriation actually lies within western supremacy and racism in itself. When discussing gender is important to understand that no one can help their gender; gender is a psychological thing. How to be a girl? Feel like a girl. How to be a boy? Feel like a boy. How to be an enby? Feel like an enby. How to be a neut? Feel like a neut. How to be genderless? Feel like genderless. Another important thing to remember is that gender is a social construct, but so is race. Does that make race any less real? No of course not. Cisgender, transgender, bigender, pangender etc are all just labels we have created to help define how we feel about our gender identity. No one person feels the same about their gender as someone else who is the same gender, therefore it is impossible to some up all pangender people as racists.
Until the 1950s in western culture gender and sex were treated as the same. Gender was not a concept we were familiar with just sex. Vagina = girl and penis = boy. Transgender boys and girls were not considered not to be the wrong gender but to be in the wrong bodily autonomy which is where the term transexual came to be. Many other cultures around the world have viewed gender and genitals different and had different gender identities; each culture often as its own way of determining and defining what gender is each with its own term. Its all very complex and I am not the best teacher as I did not take gender studies in college, but have done some research over the internet and in a couple of books. I understand the fundamentals and basics but not enough for a full lesson on cultural genders. However to simply state that pangender includes genders outside the western binary system implies that all cultures see gender and sex the same as we do. This not only enforces western supremacy but is racist. The world does not conform to western standards and ideals and nor should it.
Pangender really means all genders within western culture. Pan does not always mean everything. Such as pantheism is not the belief in all religions and Gods, but the belief that the universe is whole is a God. Yes that definition is way over simplified, especially for someone who did take religious studies as a GCSE but the principle still applies.
When you say pangender is cultural appropriation you are hurting people like me. People who have done nothing wrong to anyone. My mother is biracial, a lot of my family is brown or black, including three of my siblings who are also biracial, I am part of a duo-culture. The last thing I would ever do is appropriate someone else' culture when it deeply hurts and effects me when someone appropriates my Arab or Welsh culture. When you attack someone because of their gender identity you are stripping them of their humanity and invalidating them. You are policing identity and resemble transmedicalists who enforce the binary system and don't believe non-binary people experience gender dysphoria. (While not only are many non-binary do actually experience gender dysporia, they also experience social dysphoria.) I have experienced a lot of dysphoria over the nears which has resulted in eating disorders, suicide attempts and self harming. I still do experience dysphoria but now I can often handle it better where I am not putting myself at risk.
I think many people forget that when they rob pangender enbys of their gender identity they can trigger dysphoria and cause a great deal of anxiety, stress, upset, and dysthymia (chronic depression). Denying someone their gender is a violation of human rights in my eyes, also using cultural appropriation as a reason to bully and attack pangenders desensitizes and trivializes the seriousness issues associated with cultural appropriation.
Just let me be me. I am pangender. I am not hurting anyone but you are hurting me.
"Western saviourism" is like "white saviourism" as in western people make it their life's mission to protect the poorer non-western people from cultural appropriation by glorifying their "work" and cultural segregation and ignorance on the topic. Some people now refuse to eat Chinese food from restaurants because they claim its appropriating Chinese culture; neglecting the fact that majority if not all Chinese restaurants are run by Chinese families who would have no income other then their earnings from their Chinese restaurant. If an immigrate family can not earn money, unless they are asylum seekers, they will be deported back. Its also worth noting that eating Chinese food from Chinese restaurants run by Chinese families is not cultural appropriation but cultural exchange and to deny cultural exchange is cultural segregation. Cultural segregation just enforces western supremacy and is ignorant. If someone refused to eat Arabic food on the grounds that it was not part of their culture, as someone of Yemeni heritage, I would not see this as a sign of respect for my culture but would be offended that they did not want to partake in my cultural foods.
A good example of western saviourism is Avril Lavigne's 'Hello Kitty' music video. Many Japanese-Americans or British Japanese people said how offensive and racist the video was and said that native Japanese people living in Japan did not understand racism or oppression. Western Japanese "protected" Japanese people living in Japan by telling them they should find this video racist and offensive.
As a pangender person I find myself faced with western saviourism and having to defend my gender all the time, even in the pangender tag which is suppose to be a safe space for pangender individuals to go. I should not have to explain or fight for my gender, people should be allowed to identify as any gender they want.
The claim that pangender is cultural appropriation of gender is not only hurtful and false, but wrong. I have spoken about this issue before on this blog here and I have made posts on Tumblr about the very same issues here, here, here, here, and here. I am always always having to defend myself and other pangenders who are attacked because people do not understand how pangender works.
Pangender is not cultural appropriation; the idea behind pangender being cultural appropriation actually lies within western supremacy and racism in itself. When discussing gender is important to understand that no one can help their gender; gender is a psychological thing. How to be a girl? Feel like a girl. How to be a boy? Feel like a boy. How to be an enby? Feel like an enby. How to be a neut? Feel like a neut. How to be genderless? Feel like genderless. Another important thing to remember is that gender is a social construct, but so is race. Does that make race any less real? No of course not. Cisgender, transgender, bigender, pangender etc are all just labels we have created to help define how we feel about our gender identity. No one person feels the same about their gender as someone else who is the same gender, therefore it is impossible to some up all pangender people as racists.
Until the 1950s in western culture gender and sex were treated as the same. Gender was not a concept we were familiar with just sex. Vagina = girl and penis = boy. Transgender boys and girls were not considered not to be the wrong gender but to be in the wrong bodily autonomy which is where the term transexual came to be. Many other cultures around the world have viewed gender and genitals different and had different gender identities; each culture often as its own way of determining and defining what gender is each with its own term. Its all very complex and I am not the best teacher as I did not take gender studies in college, but have done some research over the internet and in a couple of books. I understand the fundamentals and basics but not enough for a full lesson on cultural genders. However to simply state that pangender includes genders outside the western binary system implies that all cultures see gender and sex the same as we do. This not only enforces western supremacy but is racist. The world does not conform to western standards and ideals and nor should it.
Pangender really means all genders within western culture. Pan does not always mean everything. Such as pantheism is not the belief in all religions and Gods, but the belief that the universe is whole is a God. Yes that definition is way over simplified, especially for someone who did take religious studies as a GCSE but the principle still applies.
When you say pangender is cultural appropriation you are hurting people like me. People who have done nothing wrong to anyone. My mother is biracial, a lot of my family is brown or black, including three of my siblings who are also biracial, I am part of a duo-culture. The last thing I would ever do is appropriate someone else' culture when it deeply hurts and effects me when someone appropriates my Arab or Welsh culture. When you attack someone because of their gender identity you are stripping them of their humanity and invalidating them. You are policing identity and resemble transmedicalists who enforce the binary system and don't believe non-binary people experience gender dysphoria. (While not only are many non-binary do actually experience gender dysporia, they also experience social dysphoria.) I have experienced a lot of dysphoria over the nears which has resulted in eating disorders, suicide attempts and self harming. I still do experience dysphoria but now I can often handle it better where I am not putting myself at risk.
I think many people forget that when they rob pangender enbys of their gender identity they can trigger dysphoria and cause a great deal of anxiety, stress, upset, and dysthymia (chronic depression). Denying someone their gender is a violation of human rights in my eyes, also using cultural appropriation as a reason to bully and attack pangenders desensitizes and trivializes the seriousness issues associated with cultural appropriation.
Just let me be me. I am pangender. I am not hurting anyone but you are hurting me.
