On Defining Gender
OK, here we go again. Hopefully with a little more success.
I had mentioned in a previous post that there were three segments of the population that I thought were very involved in challenging gender roles. Those were the GLBT population, people who choose professions that are traditionally filled by the other gender such as male nurses and female astronauts, and spiritual men. You could make an argument that spiritual men should be included in the gender-traditional category, but I have a lot to say about it so I will keep it separate.
Today I want to talk about GLBT, which is Gay Lesbian, Bisexual and Transexual in case you did not know. And I am probably going to get a little controversial, just to warn you. I also want to make a point of terminology. I ascribe to the idea that "sex" refers to our biological state and "gender" defines our socially defined state.
We have a very interesting history of defining exactly what sex we are. It used to be a simple as looking to see whether the baby had a penis or not. Sort of. We all start the same at the moment of conception and at some point during our development, the embryonic gonad moves us down the path toward one or the other destination. Our phallus either becomes a penis or a clitoris. It does not always work out so perfectly, and there is sometimes some ambiguity. In early times the term "hermaphrodite" was used to describe someone with attributes from both sexes. There is increasing acceptance of the term "intersexual" to describe this.
The reason this is important is because we in the Western world are very happy with nice clean little dichotomies. Our world fits very properly into good/evil, black/white, male/female descriptions. A baby should be either a boy or a girl. The problem is that it is not always so easily defined. Now that we have scientific testing, we can find people that are not XX or XY, but XXY (Klinefelter syndrome) or XO (Turner syndrome). There are other things like Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH) or Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS) and several other reasons that there is not "normal" development. So for some reason, instead of a dichotomy we seem to have a spectrum with male and female at either end and several conditions in between. Granted, the spectrum may be visualized like a dumbbell, with a great preponderance of cases being at either end and a few cases spread between, but Anne Fausto-Sterling in Sexing the Body estimates 1.7 percent. In a city of 30,000 people, that would mean about 510 people with intersex conditions.
There are a few reasons I want to mention this. One is that this condition sometimes results in arbitrary surgical procedures. Ambiguous genitalia sometimes results in the doctor "assigning" the sex of the baby surgically. I do not want to get into detail here, but it horrifies me to think about it. (Check out http://www.isna.org for more information.) Certainly, this can create gender identity problems.
Another reason is that as I was reading about this, I was wondering what caused this. Is it a "natural" state of things or an aberration? I did some looking on the Internet, and while I will admit I did not do exhaustive research, I did find it interesting that in every instance I found of intersex conditions in animals it had to do with the effects of pollutants in the environment. Anne Fausto-Sterling mentions that "in some populations, the genes involved with intersexuality are very frequent" (p. 53) Basically, lots of research still needs to be done.
The last reason is that I was wondering what this means from a spiritual perspective. The Baha'i writings state that the differences between man and woman are entirely physical, an "exigency of the physical world and hath no connection with the spirit" so when we pass on to whatever awaits us after death, our sex will not matter. So in our ultimate identity, even defining ourselves as man or woman is temporary. This makes sense if we believe that we are created in God's image since God is beyond sex. My understanding is that God and Goddess are two aspects of Deity which makes perfect sense since physical men and women are trying to relate to the Supreme Being.
Whether it is the desire to cross-dress or the desire to undergo gender reassignment, this issue is at the forefront of challenging what it means to be man or woman. Whether it is defined by the clothes we wear or the genitalia we wear. By the hormones and chromosomes we have inside or what is in our hearts. And who is to define it for us?
Anyway, what this means is that there is great difficulty in defining our gender roles, especially when we cannot even easily define our sex roles. For most of us, we fit into male or female pretty easily from a biological point of view. About 98.3 percent of us. When it comes to defining what is "right and proper" between people, that is mostly socially constructed and defined. Can you imagine a show like Will and Grace on television in the 50's, right after Ozzie and Harriet? What we accept changes with time. I am sure there are quite a few countries around the world where Will and Grace would not be a big hit.
Our society places a lot of emphasis on the physical aspect of our relationships. It downplays the importance of emotional and intellectual connection. Heaven forbid it should even consider that there is a spiritual connection. (Pardon the pun.) When we think of gay and lesbian relationship, all we (we the majority?) think about is the sexual aspect. But heterosexuals do not have a monopoly on long-lasting, fulfilling relationships with a divorce rate commonly quoted at 50 percent. So when I hear of gay and lesbian couples that have been together for 30 years, I wonder what they can teach me about making a relationship work.
The most important way that gay and lesbian couples are redefining gender roles is because they have to reconsider things anew without applying gender stereotypes. If Heather has two mommies, who is going to take out the trash and mow the lawn? If Heather has two daddies, who is going to stay home when Heather is sick? Gay and lesbian couples are also subject to domestic violence. (See http://www.avp.org/) And "divorce" depending on their situation.
Another reason it is important is this. Society defines relationships as sexual, and says that sexual relationships between two people of the same gender are wrong. Along comes a couple who love each other, and they say "to heck with what society says, I am still going to LOVE this person." It is not only okay to love someone of the same sex, we are supposed to love everyone. Love is universal, and is our natural state. We have all these hurts and fears and biases and things that get in the way, but we are created to love. Spirit to spirit, soul to soul. As society matures it grows to understand interpersonal relationships better, and the "proper" expression of love. But I appreciate the fact that barriers to honest, spiritual love are being challenged.
I had mentioned in a previous post that there were three segments of the population that I thought were very involved in challenging gender roles. Those were the GLBT population, people who choose professions that are traditionally filled by the other gender such as male nurses and female astronauts, and spiritual men. You could make an argument that spiritual men should be included in the gender-traditional category, but I have a lot to say about it so I will keep it separate.
Today I want to talk about GLBT, which is Gay Lesbian, Bisexual and Transexual in case you did not know. And I am probably going to get a little controversial, just to warn you. I also want to make a point of terminology. I ascribe to the idea that "sex" refers to our biological state and "gender" defines our socially defined state.
We have a very interesting history of defining exactly what sex we are. It used to be a simple as looking to see whether the baby had a penis or not. Sort of. We all start the same at the moment of conception and at some point during our development, the embryonic gonad moves us down the path toward one or the other destination. Our phallus either becomes a penis or a clitoris. It does not always work out so perfectly, and there is sometimes some ambiguity. In early times the term "hermaphrodite" was used to describe someone with attributes from both sexes. There is increasing acceptance of the term "intersexual" to describe this.
The reason this is important is because we in the Western world are very happy with nice clean little dichotomies. Our world fits very properly into good/evil, black/white, male/female descriptions. A baby should be either a boy or a girl. The problem is that it is not always so easily defined. Now that we have scientific testing, we can find people that are not XX or XY, but XXY (Klinefelter syndrome) or XO (Turner syndrome). There are other things like Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH) or Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS) and several other reasons that there is not "normal" development. So for some reason, instead of a dichotomy we seem to have a spectrum with male and female at either end and several conditions in between. Granted, the spectrum may be visualized like a dumbbell, with a great preponderance of cases being at either end and a few cases spread between, but Anne Fausto-Sterling in Sexing the Body estimates 1.7 percent. In a city of 30,000 people, that would mean about 510 people with intersex conditions.
There are a few reasons I want to mention this. One is that this condition sometimes results in arbitrary surgical procedures. Ambiguous genitalia sometimes results in the doctor "assigning" the sex of the baby surgically. I do not want to get into detail here, but it horrifies me to think about it. (Check out http://www.isna.org for more information.) Certainly, this can create gender identity problems.
Another reason is that as I was reading about this, I was wondering what caused this. Is it a "natural" state of things or an aberration? I did some looking on the Internet, and while I will admit I did not do exhaustive research, I did find it interesting that in every instance I found of intersex conditions in animals it had to do with the effects of pollutants in the environment. Anne Fausto-Sterling mentions that "in some populations, the genes involved with intersexuality are very frequent" (p. 53) Basically, lots of research still needs to be done.
The last reason is that I was wondering what this means from a spiritual perspective. The Baha'i writings state that the differences between man and woman are entirely physical, an "exigency of the physical world and hath no connection with the spirit" so when we pass on to whatever awaits us after death, our sex will not matter. So in our ultimate identity, even defining ourselves as man or woman is temporary. This makes sense if we believe that we are created in God's image since God is beyond sex. My understanding is that God and Goddess are two aspects of Deity which makes perfect sense since physical men and women are trying to relate to the Supreme Being.
Whether it is the desire to cross-dress or the desire to undergo gender reassignment, this issue is at the forefront of challenging what it means to be man or woman. Whether it is defined by the clothes we wear or the genitalia we wear. By the hormones and chromosomes we have inside or what is in our hearts. And who is to define it for us?
Anyway, what this means is that there is great difficulty in defining our gender roles, especially when we cannot even easily define our sex roles. For most of us, we fit into male or female pretty easily from a biological point of view. About 98.3 percent of us. When it comes to defining what is "right and proper" between people, that is mostly socially constructed and defined. Can you imagine a show like Will and Grace on television in the 50's, right after Ozzie and Harriet? What we accept changes with time. I am sure there are quite a few countries around the world where Will and Grace would not be a big hit.
Our society places a lot of emphasis on the physical aspect of our relationships. It downplays the importance of emotional and intellectual connection. Heaven forbid it should even consider that there is a spiritual connection. (Pardon the pun.) When we think of gay and lesbian relationship, all we (we the majority?) think about is the sexual aspect. But heterosexuals do not have a monopoly on long-lasting, fulfilling relationships with a divorce rate commonly quoted at 50 percent. So when I hear of gay and lesbian couples that have been together for 30 years, I wonder what they can teach me about making a relationship work.
The most important way that gay and lesbian couples are redefining gender roles is because they have to reconsider things anew without applying gender stereotypes. If Heather has two mommies, who is going to take out the trash and mow the lawn? If Heather has two daddies, who is going to stay home when Heather is sick? Gay and lesbian couples are also subject to domestic violence. (See http://www.avp.org/) And "divorce" depending on their situation.
Another reason it is important is this. Society defines relationships as sexual, and says that sexual relationships between two people of the same gender are wrong. Along comes a couple who love each other, and they say "to heck with what society says, I am still going to LOVE this person." It is not only okay to love someone of the same sex, we are supposed to love everyone. Love is universal, and is our natural state. We have all these hurts and fears and biases and things that get in the way, but we are created to love. Spirit to spirit, soul to soul. As society matures it grows to understand interpersonal relationships better, and the "proper" expression of love. But I appreciate the fact that barriers to honest, spiritual love are being challenged.
posted by Bill @ 7:59 AM
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