A Study of Gender

Gender is far more than he or she. It's even more than the physical. It is an entire mindset. Sorry guys, but men are fairly simple, operating for the most part on black and white. Women are more feeling oriented and are prone to falling into analyzing situations far more than needed.

Okay so now try to see what happens when you mix this up. This is fiction so turn loose of your sensibilities. What would happen if you were to have a male persona inhabit a female body without a persona anymore. Or perhaps the other way around. Perhaps the term 'soul' would be easier for you to grasp. How much of what you identify as 'you' is dictated by your physical body and brain? Who can say really, but it's a fun concept to play with.

Transgressions, by Phillip Bernie did just that and did it very well and really quite tastefully. No bizarre erotic moments though there were some moments to be sure.

He took a male persona and put it in a female body. He even included cell memory as well as breed or race if you prefer. I found the study amusing though really there were relatively few actually funny spots. More along the line of a guy learning how to make use of the 'rack' he found himself endowed with.

This is the prevailing background thread through this story, but the story itself was captivating as the main character needed to protect his friends from an evil spirit and equally evil and ambitions people, even people who might have become powerful enough to consider themselves gods or their highest priests.

Yeah, we're talking magic here, and in the case of this story, magic is something like the Midi-chlorians of Star Wars, though perhaps less intelligent. In other words, particles with certain habits, visible only to the mage. Another very well handled thread. It's not easy keeping these things straight. Phillip Bernie did a very fine job with this book.

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The Definitions of Race

I've touched on race before, and I've talked about weaving a story like a tapestry. One prevailing thread that runs through this book is race. Not racism, just race. There are like four major races on this Earth, and probably several variants. But what if there were races we knew nothing about? What if these people purposely kept their numbers way down, propagating only by special permission? And then, what if you discovered one of them? What would you do? How would you react? Would you react at all?

Now, if you or I ran across one of these people, we might not do much of anything because we probably wouldn't know the difference, I mean, it's not as if their race was written on their face like having black skin, or slanted eyes.

However, John, does just that, and, just like anyone else, he doesn't know it, and doesn't really care. He was just on a routine surveillance job. Minutes later, nothing was routine anymore. Now he had to figure out why some out-of-town crime boss wanted him dead one minute and then wanted to be all friendly the next time they talked.

So tell me, what is it about race that makes it what it is? I mean, other than a physical appearance, what makes a black man a black man? What makes an Asian man Asian. If not their physical appearance; if not their country of origin, what else is there. A black person, a white person, all of us have other words that define us. Most of those words are derogatory on some level, but really, if you take away appearance and location, a definition, any definition, is about all that is left. So given only the definition, and given two definitions to choose from, which do you choose? Which one makes you stronger and which one destroys you, even if only within your own mind?

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