Vampiric Chicken Vikings, ATTAAAAAACK!

Right ok, lunch nice and hot, Volbeat on the iPod and an annoying notion in my mind.

Right. Go!

Norrie May-Welby. Not a name you are likely to be familiar with, but a name that had me shaking my head at the over whelming pointlessness this morning at the headline “Briton becomes world’s first OFFICIALLY genderless person”. What the hell does that mean?

Let me start by saying this is in no way a personal or homophobic attack, but it’s just the stupid implications of this “news” that have got my back up. The Australian authorities declared themselves unable to determine the actual gender of Norrie’s body. Now, Norrie was born a man, but had a sex change back in the eighties at some point. Since then, she didn’t feel that female was appropriate either, so had surgery to make herself basically gender neutral. Fair enough, whatever it takes to make you happy, right? Well yeah, it’s important to feel happy in your own body, after all, it is the only thing that truly belongs to you and no-one else, but here’s the thing. The term gender has bugger all to do with biology. No, don’t start to disagree just yet, look it up from a reputable source and you will find that I am correct. Your SEX is a biological fact. Quite simply, you either have Y-chromosomes or you do not. If you do, you are male. If you do not, you are female. (This is a simplification, it is not always xx or xy, you can have xyy, xxy, even xxxy, look up super-males, bloody interesting if you are into genetics).

The thing is, gender is the thoughts, feelings, behaviours, stereotypes and emotional attributes that a given culture associates with each of the two sexes, and these are not always the same cross culturally. The Amazonian warriors for example. Typically, they have a male gender role as we would see it, but are still female. But I digress. Where the hell does “officially” come into it? Is this an attempt to make life easier for Norrie? Maybe. But what the hell is the point? Ok, be whatever you want to be, but is this something Norrie can put on their passport? What the hell do we call him/her now? Is it to become un-pc to call her her? Or him? What about IT? Is that fair, or even in any way helpful? No, but sadly, that is what is likely to happen.

Or does this go back to something basic, stupid and really damned annoying. People don’t like to use the word sex. Think about it, are you ever asked for your SEX on a form anymore? Nope, it’s always GENDER these days, which is not right, whatever some weasely little tit with a clip board might tell you. Sexes. There are two of them. Male and Female. There are also two basic genders. Essentially, Masculine, feminine, and degrees thereof. Hey, don’t get me wrong, there should be allowances made for the fact that it is perfectly possible for there to be hermaphrodites. But do you know how many TRUE hermaphrodites there have ever been? And by true, I mean having both male AND female organs (not just a vagina and vestigial penis or vice versa, but one functioning ovary, one testicle etc). Have a guess? Put it this way, you can count them on one hand. Last I researched it at University, there had only ever been one. And no, someone with ambiguous sexual organs, under-developed genitals or growth deficiencies DOES NOT count. I cannot see any way in which this daft judgement call is going to help Norrie, rather it is likely to make things harder as people are going to have no clue how do deal with her.

Stupidly, no-one has mentioned a psychological evaluation to determine her gender, they have based this “OFFICIAL” declaration entirely upon a medical examination. Well, that’s like a bit like trying to discover someone’s religious beliefs by giving them a fucking MRI scan.

Let us take this to a ridiculous conclusion, shall we? I like beer, large edged weapons, breaking things, growing my hair long and have a penchant for comely wenches. Right, that’s it. I’m going to the court of human rights to be “OFFICIALLY” declared a Viking. Or maybe a Klingon. Oh damn you and your irrefutable facts, you’re encroaching on my personal feelings if you let facts and scientific principles get in the way of my “OFFICIAL” Viking/Klingon status. Hey, we even have our own language.

So that’s my first inane and pointless rant. Stop giggling like bloody five year olds every time you hear the word “sex” and use it properly, and stop misusing words like “OFFICIAL”, it’s stupid, and it’s pointless and it isn’t going to help anybody. I only hope that years down the line when Norrie is stood at an airport check-in unsure of which box to tick on the “Gender” (GRRRRRRRRRRRR) section, and the security staff are unwilling to force the other 6 Billion odd people in the world to choose between these and a little box stating “other”, he/she/they/whatever doesn’t come to seriously regret this announcement.

P.S. Interested in any of this sciency stuff? Take a look at the Batista Family, it’ll blow your mind.