In Sex Gender and Sexuality in Biomedicine, I was interested to read how gendered biases have formulated cultural notions of difference. From the heteronormative slant on reproductive processes, to gendered assumptions about illness.
I wanted to share two videos related to the work of Anne Fausto Sterling, as seen in The Handbook of Science and Technology Studies, Chapter 13, Sex Gender and Sexuality in Biomedicine. The first video is a great mix tape of snippets by different scholars exploring the relationships between gender and culture. During the first 8 minutes, Anne talks about the constant co-production of the body in relation to culture, especially in gender expansive kids.
I am impressed and inspired by Anne’s accessible explanation of gender development in the second video. Anne describes gender, not as a thing, but as a location on an ever changing landscape. As a mother to a gender expansive child I am in a constant process of challenging my assumptions around gender and its development.
I would be interested to have a discussion on here around our understanding of the formulation of gender as a binary or non-binary system.
In what ways, if any, do you enact your notion of self within the binary system?
In what ways, if any, do you move through the world as a human with a more fluid understanding of gender?
How have these ways of being in the world been shaped by your culture and upbringing?
I understand that these questions might be deeply personal and something you don’t wish to share with the group, but I wanted to put it out there in case anyone does!
Add yours Comments – 6
Thanks Freya for sharing these videos.
I personally always swept this question under the carpet. Where I grew up, there was very limited diversity in lifestyle and each lifestyle was attributed to one of male or female. Surviving in such a society is dependant on following one of its typical lifestyles. Being immersed in such a society for over 20 years, I cannot claim my mindset has ever been close to the idea of gender landscape. Even though it’s pure science, but breaking free from ideas that are buried deep within the insecurity zone of my mind definitely needs a very long time.
So honestly, I can’t stop thinking about people other than male and female. It’s not what I think is true, but changing things which have been hard-wired in my mind takes a lot of energy and time. But about myself, I never questioned myself about my own gender in the way I questioned other people’s gender. Not because I’m sure about its answer, just because I’m exhausted. The question is really important, I don’t deny it, but I personally have bombarded myself with a fair share of questions during these recent years – most of them targeted right at the center of my insecurity zone – that I don’t want to bother myself with the question of gender for now.
However, it is strange how I have a problem choosing pronouns when talking to someone in English. I don’t know if it’s because my native language doesn’t differentiate between genders or it’s related to the underlying perception of gender in my mind. Even though I knew the word “he” and “she” since I was 5, sometimes unknowingly I address female gender as “he”.
Hi Masoud, thanks for your thoughtful response, sorry its taken me a while to respond. I love how you describe “insecurity zone of my mind”.. thats so bold of you – i think we all have these embedded ways of understanding the world right, and definitely this course is shining a light on mine. I have always identified as female, and only the last few years have begun to question gender identity as a non binary system of knowing/feeling/experiencing the world. Thats interesting what you say about pronouns. I think this whole debate is a really good opportunity for us to question our biases and not take for granted the gendered attributes that we think we perceive in another – to hold off until they have shared with us their pronouns!
The fact that you have the privilege to “not bother” yourself with gender doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t though. These are people’s lived experiences and even though you feel you live within the binary, many people do not, and their experiences demand your attention and your courtesy. Imagine how exhausting it must be for a non-binary or trans person to have their very life and identity discounted by people because they refused to think about them as who they are. I would invite you, politely to examine this.
I believe that minorities are always in danger of being considered as abnormal. It is also true about different religions, ethnicities, … Even left handed people were forced to write with their right hand in the past until scientists discovered the biological basis behind that. Maybe it can justify the efforts to find and introduce the biological differences in gays or lesbians, because people accept variety easier when there is no personal choice behind that.
Masoud’s comment about the appropriate pronouns for people out of this binary system made me realize how much our language and believes is interrelated. But the critical point here is that if having a different language to describe those people actually help them to be recognized as a normal group of people or just distinguishes them and exposes them to more biased and prejudiced reactions.
About my personal experience, I raised in the same society as Masoud and it was hard not to categorize myself as a woman. Especially, when there are many rules related to your gender in the law and culture. I think in my case, reading more and most of the time being against the taboos of the society and asking why helped me to be more open to people’s differences. Thus, I believe that nurturing the critical thinking in the children is an important factor.
About our governers, I have to say that they emphasizes on this binary system to the extent that instead of recognition of these groups of people, they defines some punishments for gay people and giving loans to people who wants to change their gender due to their orientation or physical problems.
Finally, I really recommend watching the Danish girl movie, which is actually based on a true story and shows the efforts of a human to find the right body and category that matches his/her identity in the binary system of women and men. I just stop here and do not spoil the movie.
Hi Ladan, I appreciate your thoughts!Its really interesting what you say about difference and inclusion. I’m not sure on this one and I would love to hear from others who consider themselves outside of a binary. I would like to know if it is useful, as you say, to be seen of as ‘special’ somehow, or whether really there is just so much prejudice and exclusion that that the only way, for now, is to acknowledge the differences..
Thanks so much for the movie tip – I’ll watch it!!
What wonderful comments – and you’ve all touched on some really important issues. We haven’t had enough time to talk about this in class but gender is one of those really “rich” examples that contains multitudes of issues related to all realms of science and society – how the “sex” categories are constructed is much more complicated than we have been led to believe for example!
I too was raised in a time and a western-scientific society that valued sex-as-gender, and it takes conscious effort to rework these categories!
Thanks for your post Freya and your comments Masoud and Ladan and hopefully let’s raise this again in class.