A few years ago, at the Sanremo Festival, Italy’s most famous and world-renowned song festival, a transgender person was co-presented for the first time: Drusilla Foer
She has participated in several events dedicated to various artists, and at one of them, she presented a wonderful monologue, which is the one I want to bring up today and talk about in this new blog post..
In her presentation, she said:
“I don’t want to overwhelm you at this point with words about fluidity, integration, diversity. I don’t like diversity because it has something comparative and distant about it that doesn’t fully convince me. When I verbalize it, I always feel like I’m betraying something I think or feel.”
“A substitute term could be Singularity, because we are all capable of perceiving it in others and believe ourselves to be so. And because to understand one’s own Singularity, it is necessary to understand what it is made of, what we are made of”
Drusilla Foer
When I listened to her, I was fascinated by her ability to sum up an infinite number of qualities in a single word. When we talk about Singularity, we talk about what identifies us, what makes us unique and unrepeatable, what separates us but also unites us with other people
And this idea seems much more powerful to me than the idea of diversity. Not because I don’t like it, not because I disagree, but because Singularity is a concept, a quality that makes us special in the best sense of the word
And if we consider that when we talk about gender identity, sexual orientation, or gender expression, instead of including them in diversity, we think of them as terms of the Singularity of every human being on Earth, some of the tension that the word diversity generates, dissolves..
Let’s think about how we should also think about singularity in school: Each student is different from the other when it comes to learning. That’s why it’s necessary to deploy different techniques, different paths so that everyone can assimilate a topic or concept.
Why not do the same in promoting and respecting rights? Why not think about them from a perspective of Singularity?
Just as there are so many ways to experience motherhood as mothers in the world, the experience of sexuality is also unique. A person can be gay and have things in common with many other gay people, but they are unique and, as such, will experience their orientation and their own being in a different and particular way
Thinking about childhood and adolescence as unique is a great step not only toward respecting their rights but also toward giving them a voice and viewing them in a unique way.
Because the reality is that each person is truly unique, and if we approach it this way in our daily lives, coexistence and respect for differences (which is what lies behind Singularity) will be possible.
And I would like to close this atypical post, because I usually give advice rather than open reflections, with the conclusion of Drusilla’s speech:
“I am a very lucky person to be here, but I ask for another gift: to give meaning to my presence on this stage and experience the true revolutionary act, which is listening to ourselves and to others”
If we listen to the Singularity, there will be no need to talk about diversity
What is your opinion?