Because I'm a Writress

Does our gender characterize what happens around us? Or does everything around us define our gender? Can a girl have the arm strength of Schwarzenegger and still be perceived as elegant? Must a man wearing lavender be at least bisexual?

A while ago, Oprah (Yes, I was watching Oprah!) did a feature on transgender; the guest was one who had recently gone through multiple medical procedures in attempt to rediscover the woman inside a man's body. During the time period when James was not yet completely transformed into Jenny, he could effortlessly present himself as, and as such be perceived as, either a man or a woman depending on his mood. One day he decided to test out the ultimate. How would a woman be treated different from a man? On the first day, he went to an auto dealer, as James, and showed interest in purchasing a car. The salesperson opened the hood and showed James the engine, throwing in details about tank capacity and horsepower etc., before they went for a test drive at speed like they were fugitives fleeing the state. The next day Jenny walked into the same dealer and showed interest in the same car James did the day before. The salesperson never once offered to open the hood, or mention anything under it. Instead, Jenny got to see the nice cup holders ever so handily located right next to the driver's seat. Jenny also got to test drive the car, under if not at speed limit, with the salesperson elaborating on the safety features of the car the entire way.

I agree that the difference can be explained as sales tactics. A salesperson should approach each customer from a distinct angle depending on what kind of need the individual customer has. And apparently, James and Jenny needed different things, from the same thing. Would the salesperson have been more surprised if Jenny had questions regarding horsepower or if James had inquired about cup holders?

In the end, James purchased the car. Not because Jenny felt the car was not safe enough, but because James got a better discount than Jenny. Hm...

Opposites can never be equal. There's no doubt that male and female of the same species behave differently, and are expected to behave differently. For instance, do waiters and waitresses have different titles because they're assigned different responsibilities? But when it comes to doctors and pilots, the only way to refer to them gender-specifically is to add the word "female" in front; equivalently, add "male" in front of occupations like nurses and strippers. (Those were the only two I could think of.) You might have preferences to male/female doctors because of what they see of you, and you would have preferences over male/female strippers because of what you see of them. Most of the time we can expect to see an actress play a female role in a film, but would we expect a salesman to sell male products? Do female high school grads automatically enroll to second year of college because first year is for freshmen? Are women not kind enough to be included as mankind? Is a master the male equivalent of a mistress? And is a witch the female equivalent of a wizard?

I have no point. But maybe this is the kind of thing you can expect from a female writer.

But evidently, everything else around you would behave differently if you were the opposite sex. Male are entitled to some benefits somewhere that female aren't, and vice versa. Who really has the advantage? Unless you're Jenny, you're not likely to ever find out.

If someone asked me which sex I'd want to be if I were given the choice, I would stick with what I have, not because I'm unwilling to explore the benefits of being the opposite sex, but because I don't want to give up those I'm entitled to as is.