Read a second-wave feminist essay, Gender Slumming by Annalee Newitz that opposed transgendered and transsexual persons. Over time she came to reconsider her perspective.
http://www.genderpsychology.org/gender_queer/gender_slumming.html
Cristine, Shye (GS Admin) said:
For the individual gender construction and identity starts at birth, .............
For some it might, but modern science is now finding differences in parts of the brain associated with gender - this would mean that for many transsexuals, it means that gender starts to be formed and differentiated before birth, not after birth.It would seem that researchers are proving that it is nature and not nurture that is the derterming factor here.
Carol
In the view of the promoters of Heteronormativity the perceived norm it does not, considered as a life style choice at the worst a perversion. But if you read the Synopsis of the etiology of Gender, which should be read in conjunction with this thread, it proves otherwise, with scientific documentation, it can even be determined as heriditary in some cases, a probablity even before conception.
http://gendersociety.com/forums/topic/7790/synopsis-of-the-etiology-of-gend
Just one small example from the above link:-
Sometimes two separate zygotes (fertilized ova) can fuse shortly after conception and develop into a single embryo with two different DNAs.
In fact. it can be predetermined even prior to conception a forgone conclusion is some cases.
Great articles. They were very informative and really make you think about the societies we live in. Our societies seem to dichotomize gender and sex when it really isn’t that simple. These are things that have many more categories and those that don’t seem to fit with one of the other are stigmatized and discriminated against. From the day were born its blue and pink trucks or cars. We are taught from day one what a boy is supposed to be and a girl it supposed to be, it’s sad sad.
Am I a man or a woman? That’s not a question that most people ask themselves every morning when they wake up and look in the mirror. It’s a knowledge that you grow up with and know visually from the look of your genitals: but what if that’s not the case with everyone? This is the reality that some adults experience when they learn that they were born intersex: the reality that they were not distinctively one sex or the other but had biological aspects of both. Where does ones life go from there and how damaging is that knowledge to your own self-identity?
In many cases, intersex people are not informed of their condition until late adolescence or even early adulthood. This has proven to be very damaging to individuals because of the two-sexed society in which our culture operates. There are only two possible sexes and everyone who does not fit into them perfectly, faces some form of persecution. What our society does not account for is the fact that about one in every fifteen hundred babies is born with ambiguous genitalia that can be defined as intersex (Lareau 1). Modern society is constructed in a way that assumes that people can only be male or female but the facts do not actually support this strict view.
Personal accounts of people born intersex provide insight into the difficulties that accompany this diagnosis. Almost every person emphasizes that his/her intersex diagnosis was most difficult because of our society’s two-sex way of thinking. The intersex condition fundamentally challenges modern society simply because there is not a place for its existence. As a result of contemporary society’s rigid views toward sex, being born intersex can result in feelings of shame, sexual deficiencies, and a lifetime of questioning ones own self-identity.
http://genderbinary.wikidot.com/landing-out-sex-binary
For most of the six-billion people who occupy this planet few things in our ever evolving lives are completely static, completely unchanging and rigid. Hardly ever do we give second thought to the things we believe are static and cannot change, but are we correct in assuming that anything in our life is permanent? The relation of gender (our mental constructions of being male or female [or perhaps even neither]) to sex (the anatomy of our bodies) can be such a thing. Although throughout our life the world around us, that which is immediate and that which is distant, ebbs like tides, ever-changing, we know so well that some things – such as our bodies – will always remain familiar. We may move between jobs, between cities or nations, even friends come and go, but we do not fear ever waking to find ourselves in a new body, with a new sex, or even with a new sense of gender. This though is only what we think is true.
There are some people though, unmentioned, often unseen or forgotten, perceived as alien: like strangers in a strange world who we feel incapable of relating to. The intersex, the transsexual, drag queens and drag kings, even cross dressers deconstruct that which we may feel can never be questioned: how our perception of sex and gender seem to be linked; if I feel male then I am male and if I am male then I must feel male. Yet the truth is that our physical sex, and the more personal gender, are capable of becoming disjointed with one another. It is through the individuals previously mentioned though where we may find that which we felt so sure of before, our bodies, may in fact be no more immalleable than our dress styles. For it is from these people and out of their stories that we should recognize the often unseen truth behind sex and gender: that both are neither static, but are rather dynamic identities that are not only capable of change but capable of remodeling over-and-over throughout all of our lives.
You get home at the end of a long day at work. You come inside, scoff down some food, and decide its time to hit the hay. You head to the bathroom and as you brush those pearly whites, you stare into the mirror and see somebody staring right back at you. If you’re anything like me, sometimes that person is an exact replica of you; a backwards version of that good lookin’ self you remember. Other times though, you see some stranger staring right back. This person doesn’t look like you at all. This person looks too thick, too thin, you see a pudgy stomach where you once imagined washboard abs, you see blemishes, the wrong hair color, the wrong eye color, the wrong image, the wrong person. Now imagine that every single time you looked into that mirror the wrong person was staring back. You just could not find a way to relate to that reflection. For individuals who were born with an intersexed condition, this is exactly how they can feel every single day.
Our Society is based on two binaries. First is the sex binary that inevitably leads to a gender binary. It leads us to believe that there are two sexes, male and female which relate to the body and these sexes must adhere to their assumed genders, man or woman. Men act masculine and women act feminine. Almost every aspect of our culture has been separated to fit into either category. Things are either masculine or feminine and the system usually discourages people from mixing gender roles. For the majority of the population, we except this system and believe that bodies can only come in two forms and these forms follow their norms. What that majority doesn’t realize is that there is the possibility to be neither male nor female or both male and female or somewhere in between. One of these categories of people that do not fall into the categories of the sex binary those who are born intersexed.
Immediately after birth, we are categorized as either male or female. But there is a large percentage (1 in 2000) whose biological sex cannot be classified. These individuals are known as intersexed (Wilchins, 72). Chromosomal and hormonal irregularities can cause a new born to have atypical, and usually ambiguous, genitalia and gonads. For many years, surgical procedures have been performed soon after birth in order to build a less ambiguous looking genitalia allowing for easier classification. The doctors would usually assign a sex as quickly as possible. More often than not, the child was assigned to be a female because it is an easier procedure (Beck). Once the aesthetics of the genitalia have been normalized, the parents would then raise their child as a female. The problem with this is that often the child will have a hormonal imbalance and genitalia that does not function fully causing for much confusion as the child reaches puberty and onward. Intersexed individuals are one of the many groups that suffer through our social construct of a sex and gender binary because they are forced into living a life as a sex and gender other than their own. They are forced to live a life identifying as either male or female because a third or fourth or even fifth option is not available.
That darn Steven Hawkings is not normal. Should we get rid of him?
Pope Francis is not normal...for a Pope. (Thank God)....but get rid of him? I think not.
The list goes on.
Crissie! Please forgive me but I am the thick one here. I read through your work you know I do. Do I understand it all? No I do not and I am not afraid to admit it.
I am me I can figure that out. Psychiatrists may help people but they do not have the answers , some think there is a cure. There is only one true cure and that is to be who you are. It is 100% natural for any person to be themselves. No Psychological test or intervention can cure it. However much a Psychiatrist may think they have a cure they are wrong.
I am cured and a Psychiatrist played no part in that. The one who played the biggest part was me. The London Gender Clinic helped and I am very gratefull to them. I am a genetic fault! Nature scewed up and I along with millions of others have to live with it but , it can be done. It is harder for some than it is for others due to so many reasons. I really do not mind being me.
I hope that made sense but I have no other answer. You amaze me with your work and I thank you for sharing it.
Take care xxx
Whoa...lots to digest Crissie! and pretty thorough too...
I sometimes feel "two spirited" in that I "live" actively in both a strong male environment with my volunteering and relate pretty well to them, but then revert back to the feminine world when finished. If I had to choose one, it would be the feminine side. not so much for all the pretty things and all, but rather for the compassion, insight, clarity, and willingness to see things thru to a proper conclusion. I have no desire to "win", dominate, or generally act like an ass... Almost 8 years of hormones have smoothed over the rough edges and have allowed me to move about comfortably without drawing negative attention. In order to hold my marriage together and remain with the only person I have ever loved, I "stradle" both gender binaries in day to day living. But for me, being "two spirited" provides me the ability to grasp some deeper rooted issues affecting both binaries and offer a real understanding of the drivers that are behind things that normally the other gender cannot see. I've IDd internally as a girl since my earliest recollections, then dealt with the harsh realities of physically being something else, all the while keeping the "me" intact thru all these years. It has only been in the last 12-15 years, and especially the the last 8 on HRT that I've allowed the female to manifest herself in my daily living. I'm content and in a very "happy place".
Nice thread GF!!!
Traci xoxo
And a very thoghtful an inteligent response from you Traci, always lovely to hear of personal experiences and feelings.
(smile) Thnx!! You always have the ability to present some very interesting threads...you're our very own "library" in here! I so wish we were closer...would love to spend hours with you just yakking away over some drinks, laughing until we're hoarse, and solving all the world's issues! Someday!!!
Traci xoxo