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I am sorry that it has been awhile since the last post but I was in Vancouver and, well,  it is the summer time so life is busy.  I also did not mean to leave off with the thoughts on deconstruction but those will just have to wait until a future post.  Until then, enjoy.

The theory of social construction leads to some thorny issues.  On one hand you have academics who state that there is no actual reality or facts but what is socially constructed.  In the ivory tower this makes perfect sense.  We create what is known, after our experience, through dialogue and other cultural ways of transmitting information.  But, and this is a big but, this theory can also take away what is a known reality and cultural responsibility.  For example lets examine race.  There is very little scientific evidence, if any at all, that would state that there are any real differences in race.  Yet, this does not fit well with most peoples experience of race and oppression.  There is along history of racial oppression, institutional racism, and white supremacy in the US.  At the same time there is a long history of anti-racism activism and movements to help people feel proud of who they are.  To state that race is just a conceptual theory and it does not exist is not promoting, in my opinion, a furtherance of justice based on equality.  The very least the theory can come off as another form of degradation.

The theory of social construction does help navigate to a solid foundation of which we can ask certain questions.  For example, having a bisexual identity.  One could ask numerous questions such as what makes one bisexual?  Is it an act? A thought? A way of identifying?  If it is an act, what about situations that is beyond someones control such as being in prison and finding a partner in prison?  Or what about the male prostitute who states he is heterosexual? What about the person who has taken a vow of celibacy for life but knows that they have dual attractions?  These are all just questions and trying to identity an individual should be left up to them to identify.  Not from the ivory tower.