<Gender is a grammatical term.>
Hi Alex and others,
Actually, the way I see gender is that it is a reference one makes regarding ones own identity, or a reference made by one in regards to another's identity.
Sometimes the two match, sometimes they don't. As we refer to another we make use of either masculine or feminine pronouns, and we use the nouns man and woman. We know that men are different than women in ways that are emotional, cognitive, and perceptual. They are different in many other ways too, several of which are mainly cultural and social. A remark such as "just like a woman," whether applied to something about a female, or a male, speaks volumes about identity, gender identity.
The words male and female refer to a whole bunch of stuff too, but these are references to differences in the configurations of physical bodies and all the complex biochemical and hormonal processes, chromosomes, and the developing blueprints of genetics that are responsible for these configurations.
While the sex of the foetus may be pretty much unidentifiable during the first six or seven or so weeks of development, it could be said that its tendency is toward being a female foetus. Here's why, and what goes on within the world of the foetus from this point on personally reminds me of the kind of plot Scully and Mulder encounter in the X Files...
Regardless of chromosome combinations within the foetus at this point....XY (male) or XX(female)...what happens next could make the most rigid feminist just shriek with frustration(I am a feminist myself, but I am not rigid)
No matter what the combination, the foetus will always continue its development as a female unless, at this point, male hormones are introduced. If this happens, the world might receive another Larry Flynt instead of another Gloria Steinem.
With the introduction of the male hormones, not only will the XY foetus(male) develop as a male, so will the XX foetus(female)
If the male hormones are not introduced, not only will the XX foetus(female) continue developing as a female, so will the XY foetus(male)...hehehe...revenge or poetic justice?
From here on, sex seems to be taking care of itself, more or less. Gender identity is yet to be determined, and the story that continues to unfold toward birth and beyond is really one of how the developing female fetus just sort of serenely goes with the flow and the male one is all abuzz with the radical intervention of the male hormones as they go about the task of changing the naturally female template of its brain into a male brain pattern.
Sometimes though,in the male foetus, for some reason only God is privy too, the male hormones present themselves in quantity sufficient to cause the development of male sex organs but not enough to direct the development of the brain from the female pattern into the male pattern.
Thus, the genetic male with a female brain. In a slightly different way, something similar can occur in the development of the female foetus.
It would seem that here we might very well indeed have the beginnings of what we have begun to call trans- gender...transgender...the human being with a male body and a feminine gender, one who in the innermost reaches of the soul, in its own irrefutable personal wisdom, far away from all the attempts to socialize this person as first a boy and then a man, identifies itself as a woman.
If this person then chooses to participate in life in a way that bears integrity to the soul's truth, why would anyone oppose that? Fortunately, enough people do not oppose it. Today, a transgendered human being can find ways to reduce, if not totally eliminate, the intensity, the amount of cognitive dissonance, and effectively the opposition regarding their presence outside the loneliness of the closet. Yes, this person will encounter hardships and challenges the likes of which could be both heartbreaking and inspiring to most people.
Yet, each and every one of us, no matter what our individuality, have but this one life to live. We either live the one that is true, out of hope and love, or out of ignorance or fear work hard at the lie.
Best,
Charliss |
