When Sex and Gender is all that matters

Just like yesterday and previous many other days, I was mopping my almost three weeks of Writer’s block under the rug by aimless internet surfing. Drooling away in my aimless dreams of making it one day, my husband shoved his mobile screen over mine. I glared at him and silently reprimanded his gender in general for trying to break my well-organized depressing chain of thoughts. He just casually flipped a screen in my direction and played the button for me to watch his choice! While grumbling away in my fury and cursing him left, right and centre in my mind, I grudgingly focussed my scattered brain to watch the movie in action. I was not even in the mood of asking for the film title and was thankful that it would only last for 1hr 50 mins. But after watching and re-watching it for those special moments in the film, I realized that the urge to write again was welling up within. I will never admit it to him in open I am thankful I am for his pressure upon my brain cells time and again! So here I am back on my abandoned laptop, writing the thoughts that made me feel whole after such a long hibernation.

As I was watching the film ‘On the Basis of Sex’ (2018), I wondered how much chaos and drama we humans face without even realising, based on our designated or acquired gender!  When the talk about sex and gender is all that seems to matter while talking about inequality among humans, I wonder if our physical identities are so important that we end up making most of our decisions because of their interferences? Those rules that we come across and the judgements that define our fate have so much power over our brain that it ends up reflecting our final personality. The critics may praise the film or disregard it as being too predictable, but isn’t it what our life is? There is a sense of predictable human actions, emotions, and reactions available.  Every day, common people face the cliché in their lives, whatever their gender may be. They very predictably try to pick up the shattered pieces of their confidence and pride to move on. Be it offices, schools, colleges, homes, or spaces in general, our interactions bring about our opinions and reservations regarding the other whom we decide to judge. This judgement is often hindered due to our inclination or repulsion of others because of their sexual orientation.

Throughout the film I was asking questions to myself, if this is what we call the predictability and cliched representation of sexes, then it is indeed one of the saddest reality representations. The story started in 1956 when the rights of women were a part of the dream for even the fortunate ones. But when I look at this day and time I can still resonate with the thought and so will the other gender identities, I am sure. On a superficial level, it may look at the story and happenings in the life of the famous Ruth Bader Ginsburg as a woman and her struggles to bring about change. But at a deeper level, it is a description of all those identities, irrespective of their gender, who suffer at some point in their life because of their identity. You may belong to any identity, but the fact that there is discrimination prevalent for each one of us is a testament that sexual demarcation is uniform for those who suffer because of it. The gravity of the cause is more important to discuss where suppression and inequality surpass the gender.

While making any decision when the thought about the existing sex of the human overpowers the ability to rationalise the action, the wrong at the level of humanity needs to be addressed. We learn about the topics of sex discrimination in schools and colleges. As students and professors, many of us discuss its importance at the textual level. But if we consciously or subconsciously decide upon taking a particular decision based on the existing sexuality of a person in practical life, it defies the purpose of hour-long conferences and debates. Talks about Sex discrimination need not remain only to a specific gender. It must include people of all sexes and sexual orientations because the actual fight is not only specific to gender. It encompasses voicing opinions against discrimination among humans in general that also happens to narrow down to their identification.

We as film lovers, audiences or film critics may always want more from the films in general. Perhaps more dynamics, history, and emotional journey may make them more popular at the box office or critic level. However, their essence does not in any way fade away by mere criticising the craftsmanship behind their scenes. The issue underneath is as serious as any such grave topic that we have discussions about in our everyday life. The idea of respect that I have written time and again about in my earlier posts still stands tall in support of this movie. There is an intense need for that respect to continue to flow across sexes irrespective of their identifications and sexual inclinations. The point of contempt in not only gender, but the fact that we forget a sense of empathy and respect towards those who are wronged just because they do not fit the gender bracket required for a particular task, is what makes this matter of discussion more relevant. In a way, I thank this film for bringing me back to my writing about topics that I believe so strongly in. The concept of equality and bridging the gap between the gender and sex differences and divide by forgetting about the overall discrimination against humanity makes us realise, that sex and gender do not matter when the idea of discrimination and hatred takes over the human mind. Gender and sexuality are merely a means to reach the end of fulfilling the twisted desire of overpowering the weak, whichever sexuality they belong to! We need to move away from such tools of rigidity so that our focus on development and positive change in humanity at large can stay on point without any deviation due to human sexuality and identification!