Follow Up: Responding to Julia

I found Julia’s post interesting when she discusses the phenomenon about the color of blankets at a child’s birth. She is right- the neutral assignment to yellow only lasts until the sex is revealed to the parents. The notion that there are only two sexes is a belief in society that has been ingrained in us for many years. Fausto-Sterling suggests that this idea outdated, and that society and medicine should recognize that “there are many gradations running from female to male.” I definitely agree with this point especially concerning her discussion on hermaphrodites. Where exactly does a hermaphrodite fit into the picture? In order to figure this out, it will be useful to look into the category of sex.

Something to add to Julia’s main post is the connection Sterling made to the women’s movement. I like how Sterling incorporated the women’s movement in the 19^th century to the social struggles that hermaphrodites face now. While women were struggling to obtain the right to vote, equal educational opportunities, and fight against slavery, “politics necessitated two and only two sexes” (40). Just as women were excluded in the political sphere, hermaphrodites were another group of individuals who were cast outside of the norm and not allowed certain rights. Women’s oppression led to the definitions of gender and in a sense helped define where hermaphrodites fit in. This connection between women’s movement and intersexuality was particularly interesting and something I never really thought about. Sterling writes, “As the more social radicals blasted away at the separations between masculine and feminine spheres, the more physicians insisted on the absolute division between male and female” (40). I also think that as medical advanced and the realization of the presence of hermaphrodites existed, there became a huge concern as to the subjective division of the sexes. This reflected an attempt of our societies to investigate the division of two sexes. Hermaphrodites were challenging the heterosexual theories that enforced the power struggles between men and women. People were fighting against them and I agree with Julia that it stemmed from the innate hate for change.

I think it was this idea, and the improvement of medical technology that led physicians to set out to “fix” this issue. I agree with Julia that this perpetuated the problem. Western medicine had an immense preoccupation with enforcing "normative" notions of masculinity and femininity. Society has taught us that there can’t be this ambiguity. Nonetheless, this article states, “debates have raged about whether gender identity and roles are biologically determined or culturally determined.” The article is very engaging. It discusses the controversy in terms of specific examples of individuals who underwent surgery and the repercussions that followed. It makes me wonder: Is it moral for doctors to perform surgical procedures to “correct” them? Is a good quality of life only possible for individuals who conform to either a male or female sex?

When is it okay to appropriately perform surgery? Can’t people just accept that a ‘perfect’ solution not be attainable? I think the so-called biological line between male and female is quite complex. Reading about cases of individuals who struggle with gender identity, such as the author in Middlesex who grew up believe he was female but then changed to a male identity based on a recessive gene, makes me wonder is there an answer to solving this debate. What do you think?