Gender: not an essay question

RantWoman went to one of those colleges whose graduates are expected to take themselves terribly seriously. One really fun thing about this was that RantWoman met a lot of other people who are at least as geeky and intense as she is. Another good thing is that RantWoman took seriously the part in the propaganda about learning as much outside of class as in it. Some of RantWoman's classes also made surprisingly strong impressions, but that would probably be another post sometime.

Schools where the alumni are supposed to take themselves Very Seriously tend to do Major Reunions, every 5 years, on a scale far beyond the stiff cocktail and photo op moments of humbler halls of learning. For RantWoman a Major Reunion is coming up. At this point, this means two things: selection of the reunion costume and a class survey.

Historically, the reunion costumes run heavily toward suit jackets featuring the school colors in various plaids or stripes that should frighten almost anyone. The oldest classes are all male, and some of their alumni have the grace and dignity to wear almost anything with aplomb. This partly makes up for the weight of history sometimes impeding interest in getting better acquainted.

Younger classes involve both men and women. RantWoman remembers being downright grouchy about the option proposed for her last Major Reunion; then RantWoman just stayed away so it wasn't a problem. This time, RantWoman has the occasion on her calendar but has no idea yet whether attending will be possible. This does not prevent RantWoman from voting about preferred costume.

RantWoman was asked to choose from among three designs:

A splendid black tuxedo-style jacket with the school mascot cross the back and collar and cuffs in the school color. RantWoman thinks for day wear she might choose a smoky grey rather than heavy black but otherwise quite liked this option.


A white jacket with what look to RantWoman like blotches though RantWoman completely credits the description as representing various locations from the college experience. RantWoman expects that to her they might still look like blotches up close.

A striped thing in the very best Oh God No tradition of previous generations' golf-course-worthy garish plaids. The design is not actually plaid which almost makes the problem worse.

Guess which one RantWoman prefers.

Then RantWoman turned her attention to the class survey.

Things got off to a bad start: What is your gender?
Male
Female.
No option for other / undecided / in transition / unsure.

RantWoman had been talking to a friend about someone who had a sex change and one of the sex change person's cohorts had previously ranked him / her in the category of least likely to get a sex change. Plus RantWoman lives in Seattle and has learned on many occasions that she cannot assume that gender presentation matches either anatomy or legal documents and that RantWoman herself does not necessarily need to know when things are in discord. Similarly when someone speaks of having "been through some changes" sometimes it is perfectly fine to celebrate the present and not necessarily ask about the road to it. RantWoman admits to finding this sort of reality almost unfathomable which of course makes it all the more remarkable that the people who do live as they feel they were born are much happier as a result. More to the point, it makes simple binary assumptions on surveys inadequate.


Did you know (classmate) whose fame currently eclipses the fame of several other famous classmates? No, although judging by media accounts we probably breathed the same air at a couple events and RantWoman certainly solicited the place where she worked for money to bring a speaker or two to campus. Now there is a topic RantWoman is trying to figure out how to ask famous classmate about, but the survey provides no space for such inquiries.

Are your grandparents still alive?

No but some of their siblings are.

Do you practice the same religion you did in college? (This was not the exact phrasing, but that was the general idea.) Not exactly. Actually RantWoman might have tried out her current affiliation earlier, but the topical location was miles from campus in a direction with few transit connections. This is not the first place RantWoman has lived where this is true; that is something she takes up from time to time with those concerned. Life and RantWoman's curiosity brought her a number of fascinating experiences; the fact that they did not take is one reason RantWoman is where she is now. RantWoman would not necessarily mind being asked more about this topic, but this was also not an essay question.

Are you the same or different? Judging by RantWoman's continuing inclination to blow survey categories out of the water, a lot the same except that electronic surveys allow a lot less leeway to scribble comments all over and reframe the question.

Questions RantWoman wishes had been asked:

Name something you have done since graduation that your classmates would have voted you least likely to do: RantWoman's classmates might have voted her least likely to read the Wall Street Journal faithfully on the bus on the way to work for years. RantWoman got hooked during graduate school when reading the WSJ and using it for writing exercises was required in a course RantWoman took in the business school. RantWoman actually found that the WSJ hired good writers and often wrote of things RantWoman was interested in, sometimes from another point of view besides RantWoman's. RantWoman has not had much reading of the WSJ for a time and she has no idea how the writing standards have held up under Rupert Murdoch's ownership. If RantWoman ever gets her mitts on some kind of an accessible mobile device, she may go and look harder herself.

Don't worry, RantWoman's classmates would have declared RantWoman pretty unlikely to take a business course too, but RantWoman and several other people from her program were there in an intercultural, interdepartmental exchange effort. RantWoman is pretty sure we filled that role.

Are there any vitamins / supplements / other therapies you swear by? Which ones and Why?
RantWoman may write of that another time.

Are there any other questions you wish we had asked? Yeah sure, probably but RantWoman got into enough trouble with the ones you did ask.