More on Intersex

There were a few things I was hoping to discuss in class that we were not able to, so I figured I would use them as my post for this week...

I was really interested in the comparison that Cheryl Chase made in her essay about female genital mutilation (FGM) in Africa and the surgeries that are done to intersex babies in the US. I agree with her and find it startling that people will recognize this as being abuse when it is done to young girls in other countries, yet they ignore (or are unaware of) the fact that it is done to intersex infants in the US. I think this further proves the point that many people were making during class today; it depends what is culturally the "norm." In Africa it is the norm for them to perform FGM, yet to us that is outrageous, cruel, and unnecessary. To us, however, having a two gender society is the norm, so doctors trying to "fix" intersex babies may seem appropriate to some.

Along with this, it also proves that more awareness and education is needed, as many of us also expressed in class. Perhaps people don't know that intersexuality is so prevalent, and that these surgeries can have negative, long-lasting effects once these babies become adults. Having specials like 20/20 air these issues is a start, but we need to do a lot more to educate people on these issues and to try to eliminate the "othering" of people who may not fit into our male/female world.

I also wanted to talk a little bit about the five-sex model in the Indonesian community from the clip I showed in class. I just thought this was so interesting and unique. Not just that they adopted a five-sex model, but that their belief system holds the thought that they need all five sexes in order to achieve balance in their community. The sexes that encompass both male and female attributes are even held in very high regard and thought of as the only ones who can communicate with the gods. This goes to show that other cultures function quite well even if their ideas of gender vary from our traditional male/female model. I think it's so interesting to think about how the US would be if we adopted this type of model, or the five-sex model suggested by Fausto-Sterling. I know it's a stretch, but I think we would be so much more accepting, and people would feel as though they could fully be themselves.

Another idea is to adopt what Kessler said (in Fausto-Sterling's piece) and try to stop distinguishing people's genders based off their genitalia. We know gender is constructed, and portrayed in many ways other than being in line with our biological parts. Yet we still use those parts as markers and our gender is assigned to us at birth, according to those parts. Perhaps it is not possible in our society to function any other way, but I think recognizing these differences, talking about them, and having task forces on our campus to try to make things more gender-neutral is a start. Perhaps we can move toward a gender-neutral society little by little, even if it starts with clothing, nursery colors, children's toys, and legal forms.