The Pot Papers : Taoism and Gender Identity
#10 I Ching
It is only through the separate study of both Taoism and gender that one can recognize the greater degree to which you try and describe one gender, it is dependent upon the other — it is in this way they are one.
We tend to express personal gender as a binaural dichotomy, it’s either this or that, male or female. Gender most certainly is a spectrum, but further, gender can be extended into various thinking dimensions.
A common analogy for gender is that of a plug and socket; in fact, when you go to the local hardware store, items are clearly labeled as either having female or male end. The prong (male) inserts, while the light socket (female) receives.
The reason why the notion of gender is quite silly is gender is applicable in any situation, a give and take, yin and yang. It’s in this way you could say all humanity is made female in light of comparison to oxygen. In order to have life, or prana, we have to let in and receive oxygen every minute of the day. However, we must also exhale carbon dioxide to retain prana, our species switches over to male — we’re emitting gas.
The goal of all situations, even of breathing, is like that of a handshake. To find a road that meets in the middle, neither gives too much nor takes. This would be to move about as if lungs held full of breath — this is the Way of the Tao.
