From Intersex to Middlesex

In class, we discussed how Western culture maintains the assumption that there are only two sexes - male and female.

The idea of this binary sex system as a social construction of our society is a large theme of Anne Fausto-Sterling's book, Sexing the Body. In chapter two, "That Sexe Which Prevaileth," Fausto-Sterling continues to explore the sexual continuum and how various experts throughout history have maintained the two-sex system, especially those in medicine and the sciences. She also explores the history of those who don't necessarily fit into either category: intersexuals (or hermaphrodites). Overall, she examines how our past and present perceptions of intersexuality have shaped our ideas about gender.

Fausto-Sterling's book is full of specific references - she acknowledges her heavy footnoting in the book's preface. After having read her more factual exploration of gender politics and the construction of sexuality, it was interesting to read a work of fiction - Jeffrey Eugenides' Middlesex. I hadn't read Middlesex in the past (although it was on my long list of books to read) and found myself completely engaged in the story. The narrator, Cal, is straightforward yet intriguing, and incredibly likable. While I enjoyed reading the first section, I often had difficulty separating fact from fiction. Perhaps I was getting too bogged down in the details, especially since we've only delved into the first book. Cal hasn't touched on too many aspects of his own life as much as he discusses the history leading up to his birth. It's not that I don't trust Eugenides, I just think that intersexuality is a complicated and confusing (for me at least) topic.

As I brought up in class, our discussions on sex and gender remind me of a book I read in high school called As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised as a Girl by John Colapinto. The book is a true story about the life of David Reimer, born Bruce Reimer, whose family was convinced to raise him as a girl after a botched circumcision in infancy. Bruce underwent sex reassignment surgery and was raised as Brenda (his twin brother, Brian, had a successful circumcision). His doctor, Dr. John Money, believed that natural-born gender could be altered by "nurture" and hormone treatments. After years of confusion, depression, and instability, he chooses to live as a male (David) at age 14. The book touches on issues of gender and sexual identity, the nature vs. nurture debate, and the overwhelming need to "correct" any sexual ambiguities, even at birth.

Like the story of Levi Suydam in chapter two of Fausto-Sterling's book, Reimer's story "conveys both the political weight our culture places on ascertaining a person's correct "sex" and the deep confusion that arises when it can't be easily determined" (30). I still think that issues of sexual development and gender identity can be difficult to explain and understand, but thats why books like Sexing the Body and Middlesex are so important. Fact or fiction, they open our eyes and expose us to ideas and issues that force us to consider and to question our existing ideas and beliefs.