DEFINING TERMS
A good place to start the conversation around gender is laying out some helpful definitions:
- Sex: the presence of biological chromosomes and reproductive parts.
- Gender: societal expectations associated with assigned traits belonging to biological sex. Biological sex is a factor of gender, although not necessary a defining factor in direct correlation with an individual’s gender expression.
When generally discussing gender on this website, I am utilizing it as an umbrella term that includes sex as well. The topic of biological sex is an aspect of gender, but sex does not determine gender.
SEX IS A SPECTRUM
When determining sex, humans utilize a binary either/or perspective of “male” and “female.” However, the natural world is rarely as straightforward as our pattern-loving brains would like. The term intersex applies to individuals whose biology exists outside of our overly-simplified definitions of the sexes. This explanation of the intersex identity from the Intersex Society of North America unpacks how sexual anatomy has natural variations that more closely resemble a spectrum than a binary:
Intersex is a general term used for a variety of conditions in which a person is born with a reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn’t seem to fit the typical definitions of female or male. For examples, a person might be born appearing to be female on the outside, but having mostly male-typical anatomy on the inside. Or a person may be born with genitals that seem to be in-between the usual male and female types […] Or a person may be born with mosaic genetics, so that some of her cells have XX chromosomes and some of them have XY. […]
Which variations of sexual anatomy count as intersex? In practice, different people have different answers to that question. That’s not surprising, because intersex isn’t a discreet or natural category.
What does this mean? Intersex is a socially constructed category that reflects real biological variation. To better explain this, we can liken the sex spectrum to the color spectrum. There’s no question that in nature there are different wavelengths that translate into colors most of us see as red, blue, orange, yellow. But the decision to distinguish, say, between orange and red-orange is made only when we need it—like when we’re asking for a particular paint color. Sometimes social necessity leads us to make color distinctions that otherwise would seem incorrect or irrational, as, for instance, when we call certain people “black” or “white” when they’re not especially black or white as we would otherwise use the terms.
In the same way, nature presents us with sex anatomy spectrums. Breasts, penises, clitorises, scrotums, labia, gonads—all of these vary in size and shape and morphology. So-called “sex” chromosomes can vary quite a bit, too. But in human cultures, sex categories get simplified into male, female, and sometimes intersex, in order to simplify social interactions, express what we know and feel, and maintain order.
SOURCE: https://isna.org/faq/what_is_intersex/
To reiterate: the reality of biological sex, as it exists in nature, is that it is a spectrum of attributes, genetics, and parts. Humans have just come to simplify this natural diversity in a way that serves our cultural needs.
GENDER IS A SPECTRUM
Gender is how the sex binary humans created carries over into our societies and cultures. If a baby’s biology skews in such a way that is assigned as female, then cultural ideas associated with the feminine are assigned to that baby’s identity by default. There’s a classic study that found parents of newborn girls are more likely to discuss them in terms of appearance (“cute,” little,” “beautiful,” etc.) than are parents of little boys. As the child grows, this gendered treatment continues – a different study of Spanish parents found that mothers utilized more emotion-based language when talking to their 4-year-old daughters than with their 4-year-old sons. Sex assignment at birth becomes a cultural foundation for identity.
However, as individuals come into themselves, they become more aware of their individual identity and its relationship with the role they’ve been assigned at birth. Some people feel they do not match their assigned gender (transgender). Others fluctuate between genders (genderfluid). Still others exists outside of any defined gender (nonbinary or genderqueer). And there are those who feel they fit where their identity has been assigned (cisgender). All these identities (and more!) are valid and represent the variety of relationships someone can have with their gender.
NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN
If you think a nuanced perspective of gender is a modern invention, there is evidence to the contrary. In the 8 AD poem Metamorphoses by Roman poet Ovid, one example of evidence is the story of Iphis – a child born to parents too poor to afford a dowry for a daughter. The father decided if the child was born female that he would have to kill it. Despairing when she learned her husband’s intentions, his wife was visited by Egyptian deities and promised that they would lend their assistance if the child was kept alive.
When the child was assigned female at birth, the wife lied to her husband and concealed the baby’s biology so it could live. Given the gender-neutral name of Iphis, the child was raised male. Believing Iphis was male, the father arranged a marriage to the beautiful woman Ianthe. Ianthe and Iphis fell in love, but Iphis despaired knowing that their biologically female body did not match the future the couple wanted.
Iphis prayed to Isis for help, wanting their biology to finally match the gender they had lived as and identified as – male. Isis granted this wish and Iphis’ body transformed into that of a man. Iphis and Ianthe were then happily married, the wedding presided over by the Roman deities Juno (goddess of marriage), Venus (goddess of love), and Hymen (god of marriage).
Restated, this is the story of an assigned female at birth (afab) transgender individual who later transitioned from female to male (ftm) – from over 2,000 years ago! A requested transformation not only enabled by the gods but blessed by them. Gender identity was obviously recognized as a valid concept long, long before science began biological intervention in lieu of the divine.
GENDER: A FALSE DICHOTOMY
Next, let’s discuss the feminine and masculine as Problematic Archetypes. Or, you can return to the home page.
queering the craft 