Disclaimer
In this article, I will be discussing the Gender Studies class in relation to the LGBTQ+ community, and finally theorizing on how “Lindy” Gender Studies as a class is.
I wish to make it clear that I do not have any sort of disliking towards this topic. This is meant to be a thought provoking and unbiased approach to the topic at hand.
What it means to be Lindy
As defined by Wikipedia:
The Lindy effect is a theorized phenomenon by which the future life expectancy of some non-perishable things, like a technology or an idea, is proportional to their current age. Thus, the Lindy effect proposes the longer a period something has survived to exist or be used in the present, it is also likely to have a longer remaining life expectancy.
As an example...
The car has been around for a century. It allows us to cover vast distances quickly, fueled by gas or electricity.
The horse has been domesticated since 30,000 BCE. It travels much slower than a car, and is limited in how much it can carry and its own stamina, but still gets the job done.
We use the car today because it is convenient, and it is what we have at our disposal. By modern standards, it is the superior way of getting from point A to point B in a reasonable amount of time.
However, if the world suddenly lost all power, and gas could no longer be obtained, then the horse would most likely take over as the superior mode of transportation used by everyone to get everywhere, as not all horses have died out yet, we can still feed them - it is not like we can revert back to all-manual farming - and they have been used for centuries to travel the globe. This is what it means to have something be called Lindy.
To put simply:
The Lindy effect is when one thing is more likely to outlive another thing, due in part to the fact that the first object has been around much longer than the second, and has been tried and tested countless times over and proven to be of worth. In this example, horses are more likely to outlive cars, because if cars ever become obsolete then we still have another mode of transportation that, though not as fast or as optimized as cars, still works in getting the job (of travel) done.
Lindy learning
What can be called Lindy learning, I may ask?
To have something be Lindy in learning, it must be the type of learning - life skills, theories, and knowledge - that is the most likely to continue to hold value throughout generations and persist far into our future. Here is a short list of examples:
- History, so that society is not doomed to repeat past mistakes.
- Philosophy, so that we can continue to seek new intellectual horizons.
- Science, so that we can understand the world around us.
- Language, so that we can communicate with others and document our history and experiences.
These are what can be considered to be Lindy learning, as it is learning that has persisted across generations before us and will most likely continue to persist for generations to come. For when society comes tumbling down, we can use these skills to build it back up again.
Gender… is a word.
It is a theory.
Gender is an outwards portrayal of who we are. Gender is a social construct based upon norms, behaviors, and societal roles expected of oneself based off of one’s sex.
One’s sex can be male, female, or intersex, and is determined based off of one’s reproductive organs from birth, and from one’s X and Y chromosomes.
The few times we are faced with our own gender is when we approach anything that is sex-divided, like bathrooms. Otherwise, one hardly needs to think about gender, really, as it is tied to sex. Gender does not truly exist. It exists simply because of how the human brain works, and from many centuries of imposed gender roles throughout civilizations.
Therefore:
- If you are of female sex and portray yourself as a female, you may identify as cisgender. (Vice versa for those of male sex)
- If you are of female sex and portray yourself as a male, you may identify as transgender. (Vice versa for those of male sex)
- If you are of female or male sex and alternate between male and female portrayal, you may identify as gender fluid.
- If you are of female or male sex and portray yourself as neither male or female, you may identify as nonbinary.
To put simply:
- Sex: Determined when one is born based off of one’s reproductive organs and X and Y chromosomes - male, female, or intersex
- Gender: One’s outwards portrayal of one’s sex; a psychological concept built upon societal expectations
A brief history of Gender Studies
Is Gender Studies Lindy?
The answer is somewhat subjective. While it is important to have discussions of sex versus gender, the actual wonder is over how long Gender Studies as a class will survive.
As a college degree...
A degree in Gender Studies has little practical use in society at large. Yes, there are jobs out there that may work in favor of having a Gender Studies degree, but these positions do not necessarily require one to have a Gender Studies degree in the first place in order to be in those positions.
You do not need a Gender Studies degree to be an activist, or an HR representative, or a project manager, or a casting director, or any sort of advocate.
As a regular high school class...
An education that a Gender Studies class can provide will only serve to help one navigate a social climate that may or may not be, to some extent, temporary. Will we be having the same discussions of gender in 50 years? In 100 years? In 200 years? Similarly, will the Gender Studies class remain in schools in 50 years? 100? 200?
What is the goal of Gender Studies? What does the class aim to achieve? Is it truly necessary to dedicate an entire class to studying gender and topics that surround it, like sexual preferences?
Keep in mind that the LGBTQ+ community fights for legal rights and equality.
Legal rights. Legal equality.
Rights and equality are both moral and judicial decisions. Judicial systems are built and sustained by society. "Equality" is a loose and nebulous goal if not well defined.
Believe what you will with the obtainability of equality. In my opinion, true equality can never be achieved. This required complete eradication of concepts such as ableism, transphobia, homophobia, and racism. That requires changing the human mindset, one that is hardwired to be hateful and cynical. It is human nature to hate other groups because they look or act differently than our group. Racism exists because the Europeans saw themselves as superior to the Africans simply because their skin color was different.
So - humor me here - if true equality can never be reached, then what is the LGBTQ+ community fighting for in the end? When do they win? When do they say that they have achieved all that there is for them to achieve? Either an end will be decided upon, or the movement is doomed to fizzle out.
It is still too early to say that Gender Studies, both as a class and as a point of discussion, is Lindy or not. If it will continue to be taught in schools in the form of a class, or if it will cease to be just like home economics, is for the future to decide.
However, it can be said with confidence that this class is currently riding off of the increase in LGBTQ+ activism. This does not bode very well. If it continues to survive on the popularity or relevance of the LGBTQ+ protests, then the class is almost doomed to die out at some point.
Either way, always look upon any academic classes - old and new - with this question in mind: How will this education help me in my future?
Credits:
Created with an image by rihaij - "csd parade show me"