"Qué pena que sea boyera. Hay que joderse, qué desperdicio" escuchaba al caballero que caminaba justo detrás de mi ayer por la tarde de regreso a casa. No supe si tomar el comentario por un insulto o un piropo. El comentario se lo hacía a otro personaje que asentía con la cabeza y medio sonreía de forma tímida.
Los comentarios acerca de mi supuesta homosexualidad y el desperdicio que eso suponía para los hombres continuaron un par de calles más hasta que llegamos a un semáforo en rojo. Stop. En ese momento, la pareja de caballeros paró justo a mi derecha y yo aproveché la ocasión para ver el aspecto de los propiciadores de la ofensa-piropo.
Me escrutinaron de arriba abajo confirmando su aprobación a mi físico, imagino que no tanto a mi corte de pelo ni a mi ropaje (de ahí el juicio sexual...me aventuro a pensar) y yo, por mi parte, les escrutiné estimando la posibilidad de hacer algún comentario al respecto. No dije nada. Sonreí de medio lado y entonces el de la voz cantante dijo, asegurándose de que yo le escuchaba, "Lo que yo te diga una pena que sea boyera".
Es curioso cómo funciona la cabeza de los humanos. Vemos, percibimos, clasificamos en función de imágenes no-propias y, por último, juzgamos no teniendo realmente ni idea. Siempre me ha gustado la ambigüedad, el juego, la confusión pero desde luego dentro del respeto. En Asia en muchas ocasiones he tenido a personas, sobre todo del sexo masculino, estudiándome, tratando de decidir si soy un hombre o una mujer. En India una señora llegó a intentar echarme de un baño pensando que me había colado. En un autobús en el norte de Tailandia regresando de la frontera birmana un caballero de cierta edad se giró y me dijo "Iba pensando qué hombre más guapo pero ahora que te miro bien veo que eres una mujer guapa". Respeto y educación esa es la gran diferencia.
people talk about my image
like I come in two dimensions
like lipstick is a sign of my declining mind
like what I happen to be wearing
the day someone takes a picture
is my new statement for all of womankind
Little Plastic Castle
Ani Difranco
*****
"What a pity, she's lesbian. What a waste!" I was listening to the gentleman behind me on my way home yesterday afternoon. I did not know whether to think that was an insult or a compliment. He was talking to another guy who nodded and grinned in a shy way.
The comments on my supposed homosexuality and the waste that was to all of mankind lasted for another couple of streets until we reached a red traffic light. Stop. The pair of gentlemen stopped right beside me and I seized the opportunity to check out the looks of the two of them.
They examined me up and down confirming their approval to my physical appearance not so much to my hair cut and my outfit (I guess) and so I did myself considering the possibility of making a remark. I did not say anything. I just smiled sideways and then the gentleman said, loud enough for me to hear, "What a pity she's a lesbian!".
It's amazing how human brains work. We see, we perceive, we clasify in imposed categories and then, we judge not really knowing anything at all. I have always liked the ambiguity, the game, the confusion but always, always with respect. In Asia I have had people stare at me wondering whether I was a man or a woman. In India a woman tried to throw me out of a toilet thinking I was a man. On a bus in Northern Thailand a gentleman said to me "I was looking at you thinking what a handsome man and now that I see you better I think what a beautiful woman". Respect and education that makes the big difference.
Ps: I do not mean that being a lesbian is an insult or ofence at all. The actual word the gentleman used is boyera which in most of the cases has a negative connotation. I think it would like calling a black person negro, although I think words are words and it all depends on how you use them. In this particular case I am refering, the gentleman was trying to be cheeky and rude, at least.
people talk about my image
like I come in two dimensions
like lipstick is a sign of my declining mind
like what I happen to be wearing
the day someone takes a picture
is my new statement for all of womankind
Little Plastic Castle
Ani Difranco
like lipstick is a sign of my declining mind
like what I happen to be wearing
the day someone takes a picture
is my new statement for all of womankind
Little Plastic Castle
Ani Difranco
5 comments:
"la gente es idiota"
Samuel Becket. Esperando a Godot.
Pongo esto porque se que te gustan las citas. Yo les diría algo mas grave a los tipos esos...
Disfruta del sur!
Nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.
O Wilde
Bueno, que se vayan a la m. La gente tiene muchos prejuicios, le encanta discriminar basada en nada y burlarse de los demas simplemente por ser diferentes. Afortunadamente uno puede escoger su circulo mas cercano y rodearse de gente que tenga la mentalidad mas abierta...
Gentes que viven otras vidas sin vivir la propia... no son felices!!
un abrazo,
Juana
A very good friend of mine told me that she hasn't anything against lesbians, but that she just doesn't happen to like too much their physical appearence and their outfit - why must they all try to look like truckdrivers, she asked. I proposed her a game: I opened my album of photos and asked her to spot the lesbian on a page with four or five girls friends of mine (at most pages in my album there are one or two). She didn't guess right in half of the cases. I saw her astonished and somehow reflexive when realising that actually more than one lesbian would win an award at a female-tenderness contest if somebody had the bad idea to organise one.
Travelling cures fascism, they say. There must be some kind of travel which cures sexism, too.
i.
Dear i,
I hope so.... sexism is just another kind of fascism anyway....
Post a Comment