People judge so much on appearances: gender, sexual orientation, race, even personality to a certain extent.

People can't accept multiplicity because, having seen and identified the body's characteristics once, they think they know exactly who and what they're dealing with. But it's not just about multiplicity. It affects everyone. People see the body, and they think that's who you are.

They see breasts and think "female," without taking the time to get to know the spirit that inhabits the shell.

They see female and assume you have a boyfriend, see male and assume you have a girlfriend, without even asking which way your interests lie.

They see a person with slanted eyes or dark skin, and they assume they know your racial and cultural background, without even talking to you.

It's all skin deep.

What we're fighting is the stigma of the body. On the surface, we may be fighting the labels, trying to change the way people think, but what it comes down to, in this material world, is changing the way people see. We're fighting this too, too solid flesh.

That's what gives the Internet so much power, why people find it so deeply attractive. Those who are comfortable in their skins often have no need for the web. They have no use for this sightless dimension. But those of us who have always been judged, labeled, and boxed by the body find an infinite freedom here.

You can't see me. I can Be.

I can stand up for myself. I can walk away. I can form friendships, loves, hates, relationships that are not dependant on the flesh I wear. Flesh doesn't matter because you can't see it.

I am not the breasts, the butt, the hair, the skin, the eyes, the legs, the hands that type these words. Who I am transcends the flesh.

Who I am is a spirit, crammed into this shell, forced to use it for the sake of communication in this dimension.

Who you are is a spirit in a shell.

Stop assuming you know who I am just because you recognize the body I wear, and I will do the same for you.

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July 26th, 2001

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"But on the telephone line I am anyone, I am anything I want to be I could be a super model or Norman Mailer And you wouldn't know the difference On the telephone line I am any height, I am any age I want to be I could be a caped crusader, a space invader And you wouldn't know the difference Or would you?" ~Savage Garden~ "Santa Monica"