I would first like to state that until I read this article, I had never thought about the difficulties intersexual people and their parents/guardians face. For example, at birth, how do parents decide what gender their child should be if he/she is born a hermaphrodite? Upon choosing a gender, how extensive should the surgery and hormonal therapy be? Should the child be told he/she was born a hermaphrodite and if so, at what age? As the child develops, what if he/she begins to favor the other gender? To what extent can past surgeries be reversed? The life of an intersexual person is extremely daunting and complex.
After my initial shock (upon learning about the numerous problems intersexual individuals encounter on a daily basis) wore off, I quickly noticed that Anne Fausto-Sterling's article "The Five Sexes" was extremely bias. Fausto-Sterling presents a one sided argument in which she bashes "Western culture," for being "deeply committed to the idea that there are only two sexes". She also preaches about her ideal utopia in which all gradations of gender should be able to live side by side in perfect harmony. I find it extremely hard to sympathize with Fausto-Sterling's argument that hermaphrodites and pseudohermaphrodites are not accepted in today's society. While this is in fact true and not okay, how can one expect for society to embrace intersexual people when two men aren't even allowed to marry? I believe that Fausto-Sterling is pushing too hard for acceptance among intersexuals when the world is still trying to learn how to respect one another for much smaller differences. Baby steps must be taken before one can learn how to run. In addition, Fausto-Sterling fails to provide evidence for her arguments. For example, she refers to a study in which children, who grew up knowing they were intersexual, adjusted to their different lifestyles. However, Fausto-Sterling does not provide the name or date of the study and concludes her argument with the broad statement that there was not one psychotic (referring to the children) or suicide in the group. Proof of such a study is needed for further investigation.
In addition, I felt as if Fausto-Sterling unfairly criticized the medical world for their role in "allowing" intersexual people to "slip quietly into society as 'normal' heterosexual males and females." While I agree that individuals and diversity make this world unique, what is wrong with letting a person, who was born as a hermaphrodite, enter society as peacefully as possible? What is wrong with acceptance? After experiencing high school first hand and the miseries many face for being just a little bit different, why not let an intersexual person "fit in"? While I know very little about the topic, today's medical discoveries have improved the lives of countless individuals. Without such technology, many might still be living in great despair.
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As one pointed out in another blog entry, Fausto-Sterling may have had some difficulty with her claims because she did not consult people who identify as intersex for the article.
This idea of "fitting in" and utopia is very interesting to me. I think the videos showed that even with surgery people who are intersex still do not "fit in" to the sexual binary of male and female. Their experiences exist beyond simply male or female.
I do agree that society is slow to change but that doesn't mean that another world isn't possible. What things have changed in your lifetime or in your parents? Is there no opportunity for society to rethink it's positioning?
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