Corey
I opened my eyes and the Sunday morning sun had filled my bedroom with light. No lying in bed for me. I’m awake…I’m up. I stripped off my pajamas and put on underwear, jeans, and a t-shirt. I looked in the mirror. “I’m a ‘minimalist’”, I though. I looked at my earrings that so annoyed my parents. Our church prohibited jewelry of any kind. Even wedding rings were not allowed. There were a lot of other rules, too. Men had to cut their hair; women could not cut their hair. Women couldn’t even wear pants. I had incrementally broken every rule. The earrings and my hair were the final blow because they were permanent, visible reminders of my rebellion. My parents, who previously dragged me to church, now wouldn’t even take me to church. That was perfect for me.
I headed for the dining room, where my parents were already dressed for church and having breakfast. My dad looked up, “Hello, Corey.” My mom just grunted, “Cute hairdo.” Mom was always one for sarcasm.
I fixed a plate of eggs and toast and sat at the table. We ate silently. Finally, my mom said, “Corey, I hope this is just a phase. You were very popular at church and everyone asks where you are. I get tired of making excuses. If you would get rid of those earrings, get your hair like it ought to be, and put on some decent clothes you could go back to church. Your church clothes are in the hall closet. They’re all clean. If you would take out those earrings, you could go to church with us. Even with your hair like that.”
“Yes, mom, I know. Jamie is gonna pick me up. We’re going to the mall.”
“What are you gonna do at the mall? You have no money.”
“Just look around…hang out.”
“The mall. A lot of kids go there and ‘hang out’. Not the best place to meet a mate.”
“Mom…I’m not gonna ‘mate’”.
We heard a car pull up in the driveway. “There’s Jamie! Love you, mom. Love you dad.”
Dad smiled, “Bye, Corey. Be careful.” Mom just shook her head.
Jamie was waiting in “the convertible”. Jamie’s parents were well off, so Jamie drove a Mercedes SL Roadster. “So…where to…church?” Jamie the Jokester. I didn’t answer. Jamie wouldn’t drive us to church even if I begged. We headed speedily for the mall. We parked quite a distance from the mall entrance to avoid “door dings” and the like.
The mall was even more deserted than I expected. We went in the Dillard’s entrance and looked at jeans and shirts. Then, we headed into the mall where we saw a jewelry kiosk. “You know, Jamie, I think I’ll get a second set of ear piercing in honor of my parents”
“Cool, but think I’ll stick to just the one for now. Do you need my card?”
“Yeah, I’ll owe you.” There was no way of knowing how much I already owed Jamie, and I had no way of paying it back.
I sat at the kiosk and a pretty blonde girl pierced my ears a second time. “What a rebel I am.” I thought sarcastically. She handed me a mirror and I looked at my reflection. “Wow, I’m beautiful”, I verbalized my sarcasm.
“Yes, you are.” The pretty blonde said with a smile. I managed a polite smile back at her.
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Enough of that. The questions are: 1) What gender is Corey? 2) What gender is Jamie?
Comments
Why does it matter?
But my guess is, they are both genetic males.
Stereotypes
I would at first have guessed that Corey was a genetic male; however, I think Corey is a rebellious genetic female. She has a buzz cut. I have a feeling Jamie is a genetic female, also. As to their genders, I'm not too sure.
Portia
Both are AFAB.
I'm going to guess that Corey is AFAB. The comment "I had incrementally broken every rule" suggests that she has the wrong length hair and that jeans (i.e., pants) are against the rules. If she were male, the wrong-length hair could have been taken care of by a forced march to the barber, or even a haircut at home (cf. a recent "Rain LGBT" comic thread), and jeans, while probably not formal enough for church, would not be against the explicitly stated rules. The earrings are unacceptable for either sex, so that's not a clue.
I'm going to guess that Jamie is also AFAB, since they aren't considering Jamie as a potential mate. Also, the subcultures I know of that have the sort of rules listed here would assume immoral conduct if they were of "opposite" sexes, but it isn't explicitly stated.
Either or both could be trans as well, but there's nothing to indicate one way or another. The same for sexual orientation.
ETA: Corey is evidently being seen as female, as the mall worker goes along with the word "beautiful" to describe her, not a word that is safe to use with male people.
I agree
I agree, both are, at least physically, female.
You used the word "beautiful"
You used the word "beautiful". This above others to me shows that Corey is genetic male. Put that with the reaction of the salesperson, the long hair and piercings would be big issues with religious parents gives me the strong impression that Corey is genetic male.
And to be honest your choice of spelling is a key. Corey with that "e" is a masculine spelling, Cory without an "e" is unisex. If you meant it this way it's a nice hint, if not then my apologies.
As for Jamie...I am leaning towards female. The choice of car doesn't sound masculine to me, it is possible that Jamie is rebelling as well but it doesn't seem entirely like that.
Nice thinking story, this will be interesting to see what develops.
I'm told STFU more times in a day than most people get told in a lifetime
Corey's hair length is not stated.
Except that the story doesn't say that the hair is long. Just that it is not acceptable to the parents (and their church.) The narrator makes it clear that short hair on a girl would be just as unacceptable as long hair on a boy.
I wouldn't make much over the exact spelling of "Corey" -- I've seen both for both genders. If it matters at all, it's only in certain subcultures and/or regions.
Answers
1.Cory is a Male who is trans gendered 2. Jamie is Female
Love Samantha Renee Heart
Both female, however Corey is
Both female, however Corey is mindset towards the male spectrum of the gender divide.
A question of gender
I read Corey as assigned male at birth and still publicly living as male but transitioning to female as she is unhappy with what remains of her masculinity (as shown by SARCASTICALLY describing herself as beautiful).
Jamie is probably a gay male as the parents passed no comment about girlfriend, no straight male would shop in Dillard's and no adolescent female with money would have failed to buy something or had a second set of piercings
Rhona McCloud
I'd Agree...
...that the two need to be the same gender or Corey's parents would react differently. (Or at least Corey and Jamie would need to be perceived by Corey's parents as the same gender. I guess we don't know how well they know Jamie and his/her family.)
With a personal (apparently) credit card, a car and the ability to legally (we assume) drive a teenager around without an adult present, Jamie is probably older than Corey, quite possibly by two years or more: Corey's rebellion, incremental as Corey says it is, doesn't seem to me to be something that's been going on for years if people are really still asking about him/her at church. The "phase" comment by the parents strikes me as supporting that hypothesis, though judging from blogs here some parents like to believe phases can last for a decade or more.
If Jamie's the dominant member of the relationship, the original choice of the mall rather than an arcade or an outdoor environment of some sort was probably Jamie's, and it suggests to me that Jamie identifies as female. (The question about "where to" seems to have been facetious and unanswered; they both knew where they were going.) Maybe I'm wrong, but I didn't get any feeling they were there to check out members of the opposite sex -- or the same sex, for that matter -- and if they're not the same age interactions of that nature could get complicated anyway.
I've never been to a Dillard's; there are only three in California and none within 80 miles of San Francisco. But in any full-service department store, the display at the entrance to the store would almost certainly be of women's clothes. The narrative strongly suggests to me that the clothes they found were at or near their entry point. (A comment above says that a male wouldn't shop at Dillard's; I have no way of confirming or rejecting that. Their website shows a complete men's department but only women's clothes appear on the home page and six women's departments (if one counts shoes) are listed before one gets to "men".)
Anyway, my conclusion is that they're both female in gender.
Eric
in my twisted mind
They are both females experimenting or not, after all who would ever want to be a male?
Answering your question, Heidi
That would be anybody that identifies as male, whether they were born male or are transmale. Approximately half the population of the planet.
I went outside once. The graphics weren' that great.
What's In a Name
Since Corey is a boy's name, I'm going with Corey being a boy. Jamie can go either way as a name, but is more often for a girl.
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Gee, Hmmmm!
With that kind of a parents and background I can see kids rebelling without gender being an issue.
I am going to guess Corey is a girl physically only because the parents did not say, "cut your hair". Which is the obvious fix if Corey's is a boy with long hair. There is no reason for the parents not to say it that way if that is the problem. However we do not actually know Corey's hair style, it could be a weird color or spiked up. Both names could be either.
Now I have a question.
Will there be a follow up?
~Hypatia >i< ..:::