Nietzsche Alive on Campus

Nietzsche was right.  Remove the absolute and you are left with a universe that has no borders, no horizon, no way of measuring location or value.  In this deconstructed universe, no one knows which way is up or down, or which direction they are headed or how far they have come.  I just returned from a panel discussion on Gender Identity, Cross-Dressing, and Drag.  A keynote speaker of the panel described gender in terms of the stars in the galaxy saying, "there are as many ways to imagine and construct one's gender as there are stars in the universe."  He recommended this view in opposition to the idea that there are two poles of gender:  male and female.  These "entrenched and policed" ideas (of male and female) are restrictive and mere social inventions, he argued.  Further, he passionately remarked, there are no hierarchical relationships between any of these "stars."  Which way is up?  We have no idea.

Yet, later in the discussion, he seemed to want to defend the idea that it was inappropriate (read "wrong") for a white male jock to dress up as a black man (something students were suspended for in the past).  Yet, why exactly was this "inappropriate?"  What is more, the panel all wanted to defend the idea that a jock dressing in drag was somehow less appropriate than a gay man or someone who was "sincere" about their cross dressing. Exactly which standard of measurement is being used to judge whether something is inappropriate?  The whole panel discussion was initiated because of "inappropriate" groping and even sexual assault that took place at last year's drag ball on campus.  Again, what do we expect?  If we remove the categories, erase the boundaries, and yes indeed "kill" God...as Nietzsche anticipated, all is permitted.