Follow Up: Responding to Michele

Michele discussed a lot of the real life problems of our gender system by using Fausto-Sterling’s concrete facts and examples. While fiction, I think we can relate these exact same ideas to Eugenides’ novel, Middlesex. One thing that I have noted throughout the entire novel is Cal’s obsession with the genetic gene mutation that caused her hermaphrodite condition. While this book is about her inter-sexuality and, thus, inherently involves the mutated gene, I find it surprising the degree to which Cal belabors over the this fact, “But, no matter how well trained, medical eyes couldn’t spot a recessive mutation hiding out on a fifth chromosome,” (Eugenides, 81) and “But what humans forget, cells remember. The body, that elephant…” (99) and “Look closer. There. That’s right: One mutation apiece,” (125).

In light of Michele’s comments regarding including all people in our conceptions of “normal” and “gender” it seems that Cal purposefully emphasizes her difference in order to gain sympathy. While I am not suggesting that her life has been anything but traumatic and challenging, it seems counterproductive to seek pity and acceptance at the same time. Part of the problem is that society, especially the medical world, has deemed any variations from normal as mutations, diseases, and defects. I recognize the important task of diagnosing and classifying absolute differences; however, this very exercise is what perpetuates our narrow perception of “normal”. If Cal refused to define herself by that fifth chromosome, perhaps she would help to change the stigma surrounding her condition.

This same gender system manifests itself in many other forms in Middlesex, including the seemingly benign tradition of gender roles, “The house was sex-segregated like the houses in the patridha, the old country, men in the sala, women in the kitchen. Two spheres of separate concerns, duties, even – the evolutionary biologists might say – thought patterns,” (92). While we can almost excuse this description as antiquated, Cal’s obsession with her own place in the gender system is a bit more alarming.

On a side note, this Wednesday the Discovery Health channel will be featuring a special episode on Radical Parenting as part of Baby Week. One type of “radical” parenting to be showcased is a couple who have decided to raise their children gender neutral. It sounds very applicable to the ideas we have been discussing regarding Fausto-Sterling and Eugenides. Tune in at 8pm!