Sex vs. Gender
An interesting concept, the thought of sex versus gender as though they were two opposing fighters in the boxing ring. Think about it – how often on, say, applications or other miscellaneous forms do you see “Gender: M___ F___” or “Sex: M___ F___?” (The fact that there are only two genders on these forms is a whole other, and often addressed concept.) The vast majority of the world sees these two terms as completely interchangeable, although some might argue that “gender” is slightly more appropriate, given the obvious double-entendre of the word “sex.” (Cue Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me line, “Sex… yes please!”) However, in my cognitive travels, I have reached a fork in the road, with a sign on a pole in the middle:
Yes, please forgive my shoddy photo editing. It gets my point across. And that point is: we are no longer in a time where sex can unerringly equal gender, where the two can be swapped back and forth like partners at a swingers party. If we are to adopt the theory of orbiting in a gender galaxy as opposed to standing in a spot along the linear spectrum of binary gender assignment, then we also have to make the conscious decision to separate the two terms and use both to specify the context in which we are speaking. No longer, I feel, does “sex” always equal “gender.”
Sex, aside from being a pleasurable and sometimes procreative act, should ideally refer to the reproductive and genital organs a person was born with. A person of the male sex would have the XY chromosome, a penis and testes. A person of the female sex would have the XX chromosome, and at the very least a vulva, if not also the vagina, uterus and ovaries. (I am trying to take into account those born with defects. Bear with me, for the sake of my point.) Those who are neither, or in between in the biological sense are often referred to as hermaphrodites, or intersex. (See, there’s that term again. Intersex. Not intergender.)
Gender is a whole other ballgame; one, as mentioned before, often discussed. Gender is a huge hot topic in the world of alternative lifestyle. Going even further beyond the now-well known ideas of transgender and transvestitism are the ideas of genderqueer, cisgender, and genderfuck. Those terms do tie in with the ideas and various practices of transgender – they’re almost “umbrella terms” under which the more specific identities and practices exist – but oddly enough, while transgender and transvestitism are better known and more or less accepted (even if the people who practice them are not), the terms that describe them in their general state are new, buzzworthy, revolutionary even. The genderqueer concepts of “butch” and “femme” in the newly discovered gender galaxy are becoming more widespread and being more deeply explored than ever. No longer is “butch” just a term – or a nickname – for the burly, leather vest wearing, ‘do-rag sporting Harley biker with bad tattoos. No longer does “femme” just bring to mind the movie title Femme Fatale and more importantly, no longer is femme interchangeable with the term “feminine.” The era of gender enlightenment has been born. I for one cannot wait to see it flower into maturity.
Latest posts by Danni St Athens
- The Unfortunate Tale of a Femme and a Vest - August 14th, 2011
- Tomboy Femme: Achieving Solidarity - July 2nd, 2011
- Tomboy Femme: An Introduction - June 2nd, 2011
- Reader Question: Being a Femme's Femme - July 10th, 2010
- On Being a Femme in Pursuit - June 24th, 2010
I am a queer, intersex, femme. I read this article with much interest because as an intersex femme, I am constantly having to explain the difference between sex and gender and remind people that the two words are not interchangeable.
I wanted to address your use of the words "defect" and "hermaphrodite" in reference to intersex people. Both of those words are pretty offensive and shouldn't be used when talking about intersex folks.
First, I want to define intersex: Simply put, intersex is a set of medical conditions that feature "congenital anomaly of the reproductive and sexual system." That is, intersex people are born with "sex chromosomes," external genitalia, and/or internal reproductive systems that are not considered "standard" for either male or female.
Now onto defect and hermaphrodite:
The word "defect" implies that something is wrong, missing or undesirable about intersex people's bodies, which is far from the case. I do not consider my sex to be a birth defect and the idea of other queer folks using that word makes me queasy. In fact, the concept of considering intersex people's bodies to be "defective" is exactly what doctor's use to justify mutilating our bodies to force us to assimilate into one of the two sex categories that the majority of the cultures we exist in find acceptable (male or female). There is no room for the 1 in 2000 of us who are born in one of the many variations of sex that are not male or female. In fact, it is estimated that 5 intersex children a day have their genitals surgically altered in the US alone, often with tragic and painful consequences, because doctor's feel the need to "fix" our "defective" bodies.
The word "hermaphrodite" is a stigmatizing and misleading word. There is growing momentum to eliminate the word "hermaphrodite" from medical literature and the use the word "intersex" in its place. While some intersex people do reclaim the word "hermaphrodite" with pride to reference themselves (like words such as "dyke" and "queer" have been reclaimed by LGBT people), it should be generally avoided except under specific circumstances.
Victorian doctors believed that the gonads were the seat of "true sex," and thus created a system of nomenclature -- in the absence of any knowledge of genetics, endocrinology, or embryology -- which categorized people as "male pseudohermaphrodite," "female pseudohermaphrodite," or "true hermaphrodite." It's time to eliminate this quaint Victorianism from modern medical practice.
The word "hermaphrodite" implies that a person is born with two sets of genitals -- one male and one female -- and this is something that cannot occur.
The qualifiers "male" and "female," because they are based only upon the gonadal histology, frequently contradict the sex of assignment, and thus are very misleading and disturbing for parents and patients.
The qualifiers "pseudo" and "true" are even more harmful, because they imply a sort of authenticity, or lack of same, that carry powerful emotional baggage.
Want to learn more? Here are some websites and books that can help:
http://www.isna.org/faq/
http://www.ipdx.org/
http://www.intersexualite.org/
Intersex (for Lack of a Better Word) by: Thea Hillman
Intersex in the Age of Ethics Edited by: Alice Dreger
Hermaphrodites and the Medical Invention of Sex Written by: Alice Dreger
Lessons from the Intersexed Written by: Suzanne Kessler
Intersex and Identity: The Contested Self by: Sharon E. Preves
Thanks for reading.
Caitlin,
Thanks for your comment. I think my use of the words "defect" and "hermaphrodite" have been misunderstood. First let me say that I am 100% with you in the views you have stated here.
Now on to my explanations. When I wrote "birth defects," it was with the intention of expressing my feeling that those who were born with an XX chromosome but for some reason were not born with female reproductive organs are no less female than those with an XX chromosome who were born with a "full set" of female reproductive organs. It was not my intention to imply that biological women who were born with birth defects affecting their female reproductive organs are defective women - they absolutely are not. My own mother was born with "defective" reproductive organs and I would no more call her less of a woman than I would any other woman in the same or a similar situation.
In regards to "hermaphrodite," that is why I wrote, "or intersex" after my mention of that outdated term. I did some reading on the intersex before I wrote this, and it was noted that there has been a movement away from "hermaphrodite" towards "intersex." Rereading my article though, I can see how it was unclear I was implying "intersex" was preferred over "hermaphrodite." I apologize for that. I too would prefer "intersex" over "hermaphrodite" were I in that situation.
Thanks again for taking the time to read my article and respond so thoroughly. Please believe me when I say it was never my intention to offend or even come across as ignorant of the subject. I think I got a little carried away in the revelation of it all.
Thanks for responding, Amber.
I think you missed part of my point, which is that using the phrase "birth defect" in regards to someone with an intersex body is a problem. This is not a "birth defect," it is a natural variation in sex, which is no more "defective" than one being born with a standard male or female body. I don't feel that you implied that intersex people are less than "real" men or women, but that you referred to being born with a body that is not standard for males or females as a "birth defect."
Additionally, chromosomes do not dictate gender. Someone can be a woman and have XY chromosomes, a penis and testes, just as someone with XX chromosomes, a uterus, ovaries and a vagina can be a man. Gender and sex are not the same thing. These are the definitions I use for sex and gender when giving an intersex 101 talk. Maybe they will be helpful for this discussion:
Sex – Sex is a category we are all put into at birth. This assignment is biologically based (taking into account chromosomes, genital appearance, internal reproductive organs, and hormones) but strongly influenced by societal and cultural views. Everyone is expected to fall into one of two categories—male (XY, testes, penis) or female (XX, ovaries, uterus, vagina). Often, babies are born who don't fall neatly into these categories. They are intersexed. In our culture, intersex babies are *always* assigned either male or female, even though they may not physically fit into these categories.
Gender – Another category we are put into at birth, which is supposed to "match" our sex. Gender is made up of several things. Gender identity—one's sense of self as belonging to a particular gender (typically man or woman). Gender attribution—the gender others in the social world perceive you as being (woman or man). And gender role—cultural expectations of behavior as appropriate for a woman or man. Society does not make a place for those of us who fall outside the two allowed genders, either physically, psychologically or behaviorally.
When people are born with chromosomes, internal "reproductive" organs, and/or external genitalia, their sex is not male or female, but intersex. For instance, I was born with XX chromosomes and external genitalia that appeared to be standard for a female. However, when I was 15 it was discovered that I did not have a vaginal canal/vagina or a uterus. My gender is femme or woman, but my sex is not female, it is intersex.
I encourage you to listen to intersex people themselves, read up a lot more and try to think about this outside of a theory box. Intersex people are rarely are listened to as experts on our own lives and experiences and are often exploited by both the medical establishment and queer/feminist/gender theorists and scholars who want to use intersex people are our lives as an argument against gender/sex essentialism.
Thanks again for reading.
Amber (and Caitlin),
Thank you for an interesting thread. I am a queer, butch, intersex ally so I am not speaking from an intersex perspective. That said, since y'all are talking about language and how it fuses with identity I wanted to just throw in to the mix a little more on the language of "defect."
Amber, you posted the following response to Caitlin's point about "defect" being a problematic term: "It was not my intention to imply that biological women who were born with birth defects affecting their female reproductive organs are defective women - they absolutely are not. My own mother was born with “defective” reproductive organs and I would no more call her less of a woman than I would any other woman in the same or a similar situation."
While I understand the sentiment that you in no way consider intersex women any less than "women" (if that is their chosen gender expression) I think your response in some way highlights the very complications you are seeking to deconstruct. Namely, an intersex person is assigned a sex based on the binary construction of sex. Just as we are all generally assigned a gender which is supposed to correspond with our assigned sex (though we all know how well that works out). What I took from Caitlin's comments about the language of birth defect and
Amber's response was that sex is no more a true binary than gender. Intersex people exist on the sex continuum, they are not "failed" or "defective" males or females, but something else entirely. I think instead of arguing for intersex women being "real" females whether or not they have vaginas, I think it is imprortant to acknowledge that a "real" sex binary is as false as a "real" gender binary.
Anyway, that's just my two cents. I will say that I also found "Lessons from the Intersexed" a very good read. Thanks for listening.