by Cynthia Roebuck
Did you know 1 in 1,000 to 1,500 children are born sexually ambiguous, and the practice of gender assignment is carried out by medical procedures at birth (Cummings, 2010, p. 148; Conway, 2006; Fausto-Sterling, 2000; Kessler, 1990; Dredger, 1998)? Dr. John Money in 1955 while working at John Hopkins began the practice of assigning gender at birth (Fausto-Sterling, 2000). He established the social norm for a child born sexually ambiguous to have her parents and doctors decide on his sex. Dr. Money’s theories proclaim a “gender gate” of neutrality that stays open till around the age of two, so the reality of gender can be constructed simply by raising the child as the sex assigned (Tischler, 2014, p. 76).
This forced identity with either male or female gender is arbitrary to the natural being of a human being. The recognition of only male/female or straight/gay limits the depth of the intellect and creates a harmful social environment that can create constant dissonance for so many trying to fit into the role assigned. It is this socially constructed reality that is in need of a revision. It is this dimorphic view that has led us to look at the differences between male and female and not the similarities or variabilities between the sexes (Jhally, 2009).
There are many cultures around the world today having more than one gender including Germany with a birth certificate option of indeterminate (Chapel, 2013). In this map, cultures around the planet are identified that recognize more than two forms of gender.
Anthropological evidence also points to variations throughout time and space of two genders being present and recognized within global cultures (Puts, 2012). Today the North American Task Force on Intersex has endorsements from “the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Urological Association, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the American College of Medical Genetics, the Lawson Wilkins Pediatric Endocrine Society, the Society for Pediatric Urology, the Society for Fetal Urology, and the Society of Genitourinary Reconstructive Surgeons” to name a few supporting the need to revamp the way sex is assigned at birth (Chase, 2008).
So, this is a challenge to all media to put forth the effort to give us positive representations of transgendered people, so we can begin to correct the stereotypical misrepresentation of so many. Allow humanity to be expressed in all its wonderful shapes and hues and society will follow, because in our busy lives we often only associate with those we know. Our social cues for interacting with those different from ourselves often are formed through media exposure, but the problem with this is there is no trial and error learning (Bandura, 2006). Media presents a single symbolic representation, but when the representation is a stereotype, a segment of society can be marginalized through audiences developing their social cues from what they were exposed to in the media. “In conclusion, transsexualism is strongly associated with the neurodevelopment of the brain…The condition has not been found to be overcome by contrary socialisation, nor by psychological or psychiatric treatments …” (GIRES, as cited in Conley, 2006). It is a form of being human.
References
Bandura, A. (1986). Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. ISBN: 0-13-815641-X 01.
Chappell, B. (2013). Germany Offers Third Gender Option On Birth Certificates. National Public Radio. Retrieved 23 January 2015 from http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/11/01/242366812/germany-offers-third-gender-option-on-birth-certificates.
Chase, C. & Aaronson, I. (2008). North American Task Force on Intersex Formed. Intersex Society of North America. Retrieved 6 February 2015 from http://www.isna.org/node/153.
Conway, L. (2006). Basic TG/TS/IS Information. University of Michigan. Retrieved 29 January 2015 from http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/TS/TS.html.
Eytan, T. (2013). I SUPPORT photo. Rally for Transgender Equality 21176. Retrieved 19 February 2015 from https://www.flickr.com/photos/taedc/8603717323/in/photolist-fa1pU-pXLmc8-drbvg-qYFp6L-qLuCEj-j3yJ6-7yFqQP-7h4zDD-e7hipR-NHLdq-mEwTCq-q57aGY-8q94PM-e7hhqD-ndU2MK-6B1Ffb-e7nWHU-5tf2gA-e7nVXJ-e7nVzj-dvcDVd-7mTVrd-5otHqH-gdKmK-nDmSCD-o4o72q-63nebf-aBj7NW-7cARDf-78b16d-5ELJFo-5bWgco-pr3gB2-icYznx-qgEiNw-qxXh7P-qhQD8u-pQspnd-oV53Wc-pQp9vz-pwSY85-p8ZJga-nASJma-4xfLxD-nb7xLz-48uWw1-8TNgHF-paQGp3-nZxSty-nGqTr7.
Jhally, S. (2009). The Codes of Gender, Identity and Performance in Pop Culture. Media Educational Foundation. ISBN: 1-932869-39-5.
Public Broadcasting Service. (n.d.) A Map of Gender-Diverse Cultures. Independent Lens. Retrieved 23 January 2015 from http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/two-spirits/map.html.
Puts, D.A. (2012). The Evolution of Human Sexuality, An Anthropological Perspective. p. 109-113. UNIT III Sexes and Genders. 2nd Edition. Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, Dubuque, IO.
Tischler, H. (2014). Introduction to Sociology. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. ISBN: 13-978-1-133-58805-5.
Tags: intersex, social construction of reality, social dissonance, social norms, symbolic modeling, transgender people, written by Cyn Roebuck
Hi Randall,
Cummings (2009) points out that the process of chromosomal sex changing into phenotypic sex can occur in two different conditions (pp. 177-179). Androgen insensitivity occurs when the X-linked gene (androgen receptor) turns XY males into phenotypic females with its first production of testosterone that destroys the Mullerian duct, but testosterone receptors do not form and results in the Wolffian duct degenerating (Cummings, p. 177, 2009). This results in chromosomal males but phenotypical females. There is also pseudohermaphroditism when the human being registers chromosomally as a male but because the testes and scrotum do not form until puberty they are sexually assigned as a female at birth and raised as a female (Cummings, pp.178-179, 2009). For me, this practice seems cruel and unjust, and it points to the need for interventions to prevent these types of conditions from continuing. Even the VA (2013) currently recognizes gender dysmorphia as a valid medical condition and provides “hormonal therapy, mental health care, preoperative evaluation, and medically necessary post-operative and long-term care following sex reassignment surgery” (p. 2) to transgender and intersex veterans.
For an intervention to be effective in changing this social norm, it must begin at the very beginning of the child’s birth. This is the only option that I can see that could possibly have immediate effects on preventing this cruel gender assignment surgery from occurring. This can be accomplished through adding an unspecified category as an option for sex on a birth certificate. This will lessen the pressure on doctors and family in feeling the need to fulfill this social obligation of announcing the child’s sex at birth. The right public health policy will need to be developed and implemented to assist in the changing of this social norm, because if a child was truly born without sexual orientation why would we not change our babies at birth to be the sex of the child that we desire? It is because we can understand easily how this is not a good idea, so how can we not understand how choosing the sex of a human being through this procedure is an outdated mutilation practice that should be curbed? Considering the CDC’s (2014) reporting of 3,932,181 births occurring in 2013, the expected number of infants this procedure might affect is 2,621 every year in the USA if we assume a probability of 1/1500 on its use. A public health intervention that provides a third option on the birth certificate is a way of putting a stop to this unnecessary practice.
References
Cummings, M. (2011). Human Heredity Principles and Issues. 9th Edition. ISBN-13: 978-0-495-55445-5.
Department of Veterans Affairs. (2013). Providing Health Care for Transgender and Intersex Veterans. Retrieved on 7 March 2015 from http://www.va.gov/vhapublications/ViewPublication.asp?pub_ID=2863.
Martin, JA, Hamilton, BE, & Osterman, MJK (2014). Births in the United States, 2013. NCHS Data Brief ■ No. 175 ■ December 2014: National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
I found this blog very interesting. I am curious when it is said that they are born sexually ambiguous what there actual chromosome pattern is. I believe the former convention was to consider anything with a Y chromosome as a male. This was because the Y chromosome was the one that carried the traditional male traits. Typically humans have two sex chromosomes either XX female or XY male. Occasionally, I believe there can be three chromosomes; XXX female or XXY, XYY both were considered male. Is the cause of this ambiguity a chromosome issue or is there another factor involved?
Reference
Johnson, G. B., & Losos, J. B. (2010). The Living World. (6th ed). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.