In college, taking a public speaking class was required and believe you me, I dreaded it. I haven’t really ever felt comfortable with the attention that goes along with speaking in public to a large crowd or any crowd.
This class was not one I enjoyed especially towards the end of the semester. Our last speech was to be written in favor of something most people would disagree with. This was around 2001 and I’m sure I could’ve picked the topic, “There are more than two genders.” The thought never crossed my mind because in 2001, it was a non-issue. Among my friends and the few adults I knew at the time, I can’t remember one conversation about the possibility there is more than male and female. If I gave this speech, it would have DEFINITELY been me defending an unpopular opinion.
My, my, how quickly things have changed. In that same class in 2021, I am venturing to say that if a student were to pick an unpopular opinion in order to defend it in a speech, it would be the exact opposite of the speech two decades earlier…
“There are only two genders.” This title alone would spark much debate and would have support of less than half the class, I have no doubt.
What has changed since 2001? Are we so enlightened in 2021 that the archaic belief of a two-gender existence is simply shrugged off as lunacy? It’s hard for me to wrap my head around the way this particular subject has spiraled into all sorts of controversy. I may be in the minority, at least according to the loudest social justice warriors out there, but I still believe there are only two genders… male and female. We were designed to be together in order to preserve the species. Having more than two just seems excessive and if there’s anything we know about animals in the wild, they aren’t excessive. Overall, it’s about survival and that’s pretty much it.
Of course, we aren’t just animals in the wild, but I use that characterization loosely to ask this: why are we, as humans, acting any differently than any other creature in the made world? Is it for attention? Are we full of ourselves, just a little bit? Are there actually more than two genders, a discovery we didn’t find until after 2001?
Chime in with your thoughts below, and thanks for stopping by!
-Out of the Wilderness
Out of the Wilderness 