I think it's more of a childlike inability to process complexity.
I mean, a child's view of the human condition is that there are "boy people" and "girl people". A family consists of a Mommy, who's a big girl, and a Daddy, who's a big boy, and the children. Nice, simple, structured, and uncomplicated.
Now along come people who say "Wait a minute! It's possible to have a family with two Mommies, or two Daddies too! Those families should have the same rights as any other!" Until now those people whose entire world-views were built on the foundation of the Default Family Model could safely pretend that any other combinations could legitimately exist ("oh, it's just those people, nobody worth speaking of"). When the issue is dropped in front of them so they can't ignore it any more, they freak out -- the entire foundation of their social world-view is suddenly threatened.
Enter another childhood concept: when the law is re-examined and shown not to preclude gay marriage, the question comes up, "So gays can marry, right?". The folks rushing to push through constitutional amendments are basically screaming "NO! BECAUSE I SAID SO!"
Throw in gender ambiguity and you have a real bomb on your hands. Remember what I said about "boy people" and "girl people"? This is one of the first distinguishing characteristics that children learn about, and they learn that any given individual must fall squarely in one category or the other. It's like we must know this fact before we can process anything else about them. Literally. Ever wonder why the very first words spoken about a newborn almost always are to announce its gender ("It's a boy!")?
People who can't be neatly slotted into one category or the other are either frightening to most folks or they're perceived as not-quite-people. "Bu-bu-but you have to be one or the other! Which are you?!" The mere fact that individuals can exist who have no simple answer to this question shakes their worldview even more fundamentally than non-standard family structures does. This is why there was a period where if an intersexual child was born it would be "surgically assigned" to a conventional gender; anything else would be too terrible for the parents to bear. The fact that such forced gender assignment was terrible for the children to bear is only now becoming apparent.
Governments are made up of people. People are fundamentally fucked-up on issues of gender and family, at least in American society. Our fair, representative democracy is just doing its rightful job in reflecting that attitude in its policies and practices [ptui!]
(no subject)
I mean, a child's view of the human condition is that there are "boy people" and "girl people". A family consists of a Mommy, who's a big girl, and a Daddy, who's a big boy, and the children. Nice, simple, structured, and uncomplicated.
Now along come people who say "Wait a minute! It's possible to have a family with two Mommies, or two Daddies too! Those families should have the same rights as any other!" Until now those people whose entire world-views were built on the foundation of the Default Family Model could safely pretend that any other combinations could legitimately exist ("oh, it's just those people, nobody worth speaking of"). When the issue is dropped in front of them so they can't ignore it any more, they freak out -- the entire foundation of their social world-view is suddenly threatened.
Enter another childhood concept: when the law is re-examined and shown not to preclude gay marriage, the question comes up, "So gays can marry, right?". The folks rushing to push through constitutional amendments are basically screaming "NO! BECAUSE I SAID SO!"
Throw in gender ambiguity and you have a real bomb on your hands. Remember what I said about "boy people" and "girl people"? This is one of the first distinguishing characteristics that children learn about, and they learn that any given individual must fall squarely in one category or the other. It's like we must know this fact before we can process anything else about them. Literally. Ever wonder why the very first words spoken about a newborn almost always are to announce its gender ("It's a boy!")?
People who can't be neatly slotted into one category or the other are either frightening to most folks or they're perceived as not-quite-people. "Bu-bu-but you have to be one or the other! Which are you?!" The mere fact that individuals can exist who have no simple answer to this question shakes their worldview even more fundamentally than non-standard family structures does. This is why there was a period where if an intersexual child was born it would be "surgically assigned" to a conventional gender; anything else would be too terrible for the parents to bear. The fact that such forced gender assignment was terrible for the children to bear is only now becoming apparent.
Governments are made up of people. People are fundamentally fucked-up on issues of gender and family, at least in American society. Our fair, representative democracy is just doing its rightful job in reflecting that attitude in its policies and practices [ptui!]
(no subject)