I attended a seminar with Katrina Karkakis on April 7, 2022 from 2:00 to 3:00. Katrina is the Professor of Sexuality, Women’s, and Gender Studies at Amherst College and Senior Research Fellow with the Global Health Justice Partnership at Yale University. Karkakis’ work challenges scientific and medical beliefs about gender, sexuality, and the body across a range of topics. 

The seminar was much different than I had imagined. To begin, it was just myself and Professor Karkakis. I was uncomfortable at first, but we quickly began discussion. Over the course of our time we talked about the difference between sex and gender, the struggles of children who are born anatomically abnormal, and gender in sports.

To start, there is a difference between sex and gender. I was originally confused at this topic, but gained the general idea that sex is typically based on reproductive organs and gender is based mainly on role in society. Sex is essentially the classification of the characteristics of a human body when gender is the classification of who a person feels they are. As we drove deeper, Karkakis spoke on the idea that the classification of sex is also flawed. People don’t always have the correct reproductive organs and therefore sex is arbitrary. I see this as an extreme view. I personally feel the classification of humans by sex is valid because of the large majority of people that fall in these categories. I do understand though that sex does not apply in all circumstances. 

Later we spoke on the inhumane ways people born with abnormal reproductive organs are treated. For years doctors have promised families that they can “fix” their child. They promised that the children would grow up straight, normal, and unaffected kids. In reality, there is more below the surface that is different. Not all people like the opposite gender, hormones are different, and every individual is a different scenario. 

Finally, we spoke about the idea of transgenender athletes in sports. On the surface, there are two different viewpoints. Some believe that transgender people should compete in their gender class and some belive they should compete in the class that best represents their sex. In Karkakis’ eyes, there shouldn’t always be classifications. She made the point that many sports need classifications based on gender/sex, and some don’t. She argues that in sports like wrestling contestants should only be classified on weight, and in rock climbing athletes should only be classified by their height. I personally still believe sports like track should be divided by sex/gender, as there is certaintly a difference in performance, but Karkakis believes otherwise. While I cannot see it yet, I would not be opposed to classifying all sports based on things other than gender/sex as long as they divide the competitors fairly. 

Karkakis had a lot to say, and I didn’t understand a lot of it, but overall I learned a lot. The hour was productive and made me realize how much I have to learn about these topics. I am grateful for the time and will tackle these issues with a different viewpoint in the future.