Aren't There Only Two Genders?

I love this question.

Gender is a social construct based on assumptions about biological sex. The first assumption is that there are two biological sexes: male and female. The second is that there are two opposing genders, one attached to each sex. The third is that there is a correct way to be one or the other.

First of all, there are more than two sexes. Newsflash! It’s called “intersex,” and it’s estimated that one out of every two thousand children are born with ambiguous genitalia. Usually, this means that the child’s body shows some traits of both binary sexes. Often, a doctor will seek to “fix” this ambiguousness with surgery while the baby is still very young; the idea is that if a biological sex is assigned, the gender socially connected to that sex will be accepted by parent and child alike. We’ll have to explore this topic another time, but suffice it to say, this proved false.

Second: if there are more than two sexes, you’d better believe there are WAY more than two genders. I really hate the terms “opposite sex” or “opposite gender” for this reason. An either-or approach just isn’t practical; how boring would the world be with only two kinds of people in it? There’s nothing wrong with using a binary label, man or woman, to identify with; the issue, and the tough part, is remembering not to label anyone else. There are men and women, but there are also bois and gurls, womyn and burls, genderqueers, genderfucks, drag kings, drag queens, transsexuals, and countless other labels to choose from. Soon, we’ll dedicate a post or twelve just to vocab.

Third: gender rights and wrongs are learned. We are taught at a young age that we must act a certain way to be accepted, based on whether our parents dress us in pink or blue—and we carry that lesson with us all our lives. Some sociologists say we don’t “have” a gender, we “do” a gender. Every single thing you do during your day has the potential to be a gendered action. There’s a feminine way to walk, sit, stand, talk, eat, just as there’s a masculine way to do it. Gender isn’t a trait; it’s a performance, a contest, a game. Luckily for us, the rules are changing.

We’ll explore these ideas a lot more, but for now, I’ve rambled long enough. I’ll leave you with this video to help you get a better idea of the many different genders out there. The video is of a spoken word piece called “3rd Gender” by Kit Yan from the performing group Good Asian Drivers. They’re fantastic and so is this piece. Watch it. Love it. You’re welcome.

Kids Say The Darndest Things

So, the other day, I took my girlfriend to an appointment. This is not unusual. What was different was hearing the words, “is that a girl?” the second we stepped off the elevator. Being me, I naturally whipped around ready for a fight. I’m a little touchy about these things, you know? Not about the gender of my partner—that’s a whole different story, one I’m sure we’ll get to—but about strangers applying gender labels to people they’ve never even spoken to. When I realized the speaker must have been about seven years old, though, I relaxed considerably.

Little kids have this habit of saying whatever they think; society hasn’t taught them to have a filter yet. Very little kids also tend to act, dress, and play the way they want to—regardless of gender roles. As kids grow, they begin to feel the pressures of society around them; girls start playing house because they want to be like their mothers, while boys play catch outside to get Dad’s attention. Seriously, you can google all kinds of studies on this stuff. People—not just transgender people, either—have been fascinated by children’s abilities to resist social pressures for a very long time. Most sociologists agree that gender-based behaviors are not ingrained; they are learned.

The kid’s mother didn’t really take a stance on the matter. She didn’t explain to her daughter that gender has many forms, but she didn’t use us as an example of the devil’s work, either. I’ll take it as a draw.

I know I’m not the only one who’s ever had experience with a little kid and gender; in fact, I’ve got several stories left to share. But what about you? Have you ever explained a friend’s transition to a five-year-old? Fascinating stuff, isn’t it?

Transwoman Amanda Simpson appointed by Obama

This bit was actually emailed to me by the VP of Student Affairs at my school the other day. Yeah. That’s the kind of email I get. Anyway, the news piece was about President Obama’s recent picks for various government posts. Apparently, one of them—a woman who was actually beaten by Obama for New York senator at one point—is also transgender.

Amanda Simpson is now working as a senior technical advisor to the U.S. Commerce Department. She has a pretty impressive history, having received awards and recognitions from various organizations, as well as run for various government offices. She has been quoted as saying to the National Center for Transgender Equality, “as one of the first transgender presidential appointees to the federal government, I hope that I will soon be one of hundreds.”

There have been, of course, some nasty things said by various people and organizations; it’d be pretty impossible not to expect that to happen. Just remember, though—every time something positive about the transgender community or even a transgender person makes the news, a few more people are going to realize that a trans person is, after all, a person, not so different from them. Even the negative press brought about by events like this can serve that purpose!

Appointing an openly transgender woman sends the message that Obama believes that trans people are just as capable and important as gender-normative folks, which is a huge plus for the transgender community. This is the kind of support we need from country leaders, and it’ll make a difference, one step at a time.

You can google “Amanda Simpson” for more info. To start, you can read the “dscriber” article I was emailed here.

Goodbye 2009, Hello 2010

Hooray—the obligatory end/beginning-of-year blog post!

2009 was pretty big for the trans community, I think—maybe not the biggest ever, but still pretty substantial. A bunch of employment and health care cases reached various courts and gained various publicity; some rights were earned, while others are closer than ever to being obtained. ENDA is becoming a reality; affordable transitions are becoming a possibility; murders and assaults committed because of transphobic bigotry are now considered federal hate crimes. Things are changing state-by-state, too. For example, New York just became the seventh state in America to prohibit discrimination based on gender identity in state employment. And come on. Chaz Bono came out!

2010 *should* be a good one too, right? We’re still working towards a lot of things, and the progress may be slow, but we’re closer now than ever before. We need better laws surrounding employment, housing, and education, sure, and maybe even access to public bathrooms; we need to ensure that people are taking ENDA and the hate crimes law seriously; we need better health care; we need to work hard to ensure that gender variance is “normalized” in our society.

The great news is, it’s not just the trans-specific groups working to get us there. For example, GLAD (Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders) published a “wish list for the coming year” that includes a bullet point that says, “a win in our challenge to the IRS's refusal to allow a transgender woman a tax deduction for her medical care.” We’re getting there—together.

What do YOU think the best part of 2009 was for the transgender community? What are you looking forward to THIS year?