Gender in Public

As I began to explore more of the area, I quickly noticed the stressed importance of the separation between men and women. Hannah told me that this is called a hierarchical binary. This society usually sees gender as either male or female, with little room or acceptance for variation in between. In actuality though, there are those who biologically do not fit into the male and female schemas, and there are even those who simply choose not to.

As I tried to learn more about this from Hannah's friends and acquaintances, I quickly learned that the idea of there being more than two genders really upset and disturbed people. This is because most humans aren't raised to believe in intersexuality. If it does exist to them at all, they usually consider it to be some sort of freak accident or ungodly mistake.

Hannah's friend Abby, another WGS major, told us about a recent discussion with her uncle. He was adamant that there were no "in-betweens" with sexuality. "There are males and females," he said. "And then there are....mutants. Yeah, that's it. Mutants."

I found this to be a common belief with other people I talked to as well. This was surprising considering the fact that research shows 1 out of 2000 babies is born with indiscernible genitalia. What is worse, doctors and hospitals usually operate on and choose a gender for these babies, often without even telling the parents. Though it is considered a medical procedure, i don't really see how choosing someone's sex for them can be biologically or emotionally safe. And even if these children grow up healthy, they are forced to live in a society where public bathrooms, dressing rooms, and sports teams don't fit their identity. It is strange to me that this culture seems to ignore a group's existence.