Alright, this thread began many many months ago when I was much more ignorant, naive, and confused than I consider myself to be now. Therefore, I want to revamp the discussion topic and the information I am presenting.
I believe there are three major aspects that assist a person form a social sexual identity.
1. Physical Sex
2. Sexual Orientation
3. Mental Gender Identity
Physical Sex
Many people take for granted this idea of binary physical sex. In fact, did you know that until the Enlightenment (eighteenth century), there was no firm physical binary system? Before the 1700's, people believed that physical sex was a spectrum, that male and female differed to a certain degree, but were not separate sexes altogether. During the Enlightenment, science, philosophy, and psychology flourished and society decided that the details associated with each of these branches of thought needed to be definite and absolute. Hence the formation of a binary sex system.
I disagree with these "categories" of physical sex because I do not think they are specific enough nor do they include all sexes. If you are some "combination" of male and female, or lack the necessary "parts" that obviously make you male or female, then you are "intersex"; a word that few people are familiar with and those who are often fear it. There are three possible responses that usually accompany an intersex birth: the child is a freak of nature or a mistake and is either neglected or killed, the child is considered a horror or perversion of "normality" and must be "fixed" (infant genital mutation and hormone therapy, western culture), or the child is considered a divine blessing (often in asianic areas).
I'm going to refrain from going into how much the the western response to intersex infants infuriates me. But in my opinion, unless the child is in danger of dieing or being hurt from an imbalance in hormones or the configuration of their genitals-- there is NO reason to make them look "more normal". Also note, that an estimated 2% (large minority) of live births are intersex. We aren't even talking about one or two kids a year-- this is thousands.
Sexual Orientation
This aspect of a person's sexual identity involves labeling their attraction based upon the physical sexes of the two (or more) persons. Again, I feel this term is inept since it merely refers to the physical sex of the two people. Your attraction depends upon such a HUGE number of variables and for someone to bind themselves to a specific sex without taking into account the other factors is like saying you are attracted to people with long fingers. That's cool. Is that the only reason you feel attraction to them?
Plus, I believe that sexual orientation is fluid-- perhaps for a few hours, days, or years, someone may consider themselves physically female with a female gender, attracted to other physically and mentally female individuals. But at some point finds a physically and mentally identified male that she wants to date. While the fluidity of sexual orientation may not hold true for all people, MANY people feel attraction for a variety of genders or sexes at different times. However, it should be noted that due to the social implications of acting upon or voicing these feelings, few ever get enough courage to experiment with their sexuality. This is more true (usually) for those who consider themselves straight since it is "scandalous" to be be with someone of the "same" sex, especially if they continue calling themselves straight. Even in the gay community, individuals sometimes find it traitorous to date or sleep with individuals of the same sex, especially if not identified as bi.
Overall therefore, the system by which we label attraction (sexual orientation) is poorly suited for it's purpose, and also constraining.
Gender Identity
Gender is considered the mental counterpart to physical sex. Just because someone is physically male does not make their gender male. Nor are genders confined to male and female (just like orientation and physical sex are not). The more well known genders include female, male, transgendered, neutrois, androgynous, pangender, and third gender.
Transgendered is an umbrella term that includes anyone who's gender is not accurately reflected by their physical sex; the opposite of this is cisgendered.
Neutrois gendered individuals not only do not feel their gender aligns either as male or female, but also feel uncomfortable with the sex characteristics, genitals, etc., that create the "male" or "female" body. Even though this gender may seem fairly specific, it can still be broad since truely unsexing a body is nearly impossible.
Androgynous gender is essentially the opposite from a neutrois; while androgynes do not feel aligned to either male or female, they feel their bodies would be better suited for them were they to be compiled of the various characteristics of male and female both. This is also a bit general because obviously different androgynes may aspire to molding their bodies into any given combination of "female" and "male" attributes.
Pangender is a more general term which encompasses both androgynous and neutrois. It indicates an individual with no gender and all the possible genders. These individuals have a very broad range of how they may perceive and present their gender.
Third Gender is a general term for many other specific genders:
I believe there are three major aspects that assist a person form a social sexual identity.
1. Physical Sex
2. Sexual Orientation
3. Mental Gender Identity
Physical Sex
Many people take for granted this idea of binary physical sex. In fact, did you know that until the Enlightenment (eighteenth century), there was no firm physical binary system? Before the 1700's, people believed that physical sex was a spectrum, that male and female differed to a certain degree, but were not separate sexes altogether. During the Enlightenment, science, philosophy, and psychology flourished and society decided that the details associated with each of these branches of thought needed to be definite and absolute. Hence the formation of a binary sex system.
I disagree with these "categories" of physical sex because I do not think they are specific enough nor do they include all sexes. If you are some "combination" of male and female, or lack the necessary "parts" that obviously make you male or female, then you are "intersex"; a word that few people are familiar with and those who are often fear it. There are three possible responses that usually accompany an intersex birth: the child is a freak of nature or a mistake and is either neglected or killed, the child is considered a horror or perversion of "normality" and must be "fixed" (infant genital mutation and hormone therapy, western culture), or the child is considered a divine blessing (often in asianic areas).
I'm going to refrain from going into how much the the western response to intersex infants infuriates me. But in my opinion, unless the child is in danger of dieing or being hurt from an imbalance in hormones or the configuration of their genitals-- there is NO reason to make them look "more normal". Also note, that an estimated 2% (large minority) of live births are intersex. We aren't even talking about one or two kids a year-- this is thousands.
Sexual Orientation
This aspect of a person's sexual identity involves labeling their attraction based upon the physical sexes of the two (or more) persons. Again, I feel this term is inept since it merely refers to the physical sex of the two people. Your attraction depends upon such a HUGE number of variables and for someone to bind themselves to a specific sex without taking into account the other factors is like saying you are attracted to people with long fingers. That's cool. Is that the only reason you feel attraction to them?
Plus, I believe that sexual orientation is fluid-- perhaps for a few hours, days, or years, someone may consider themselves physically female with a female gender, attracted to other physically and mentally female individuals. But at some point finds a physically and mentally identified male that she wants to date. While the fluidity of sexual orientation may not hold true for all people, MANY people feel attraction for a variety of genders or sexes at different times. However, it should be noted that due to the social implications of acting upon or voicing these feelings, few ever get enough courage to experiment with their sexuality. This is more true (usually) for those who consider themselves straight since it is "scandalous" to be be with someone of the "same" sex, especially if they continue calling themselves straight. Even in the gay community, individuals sometimes find it traitorous to date or sleep with individuals of the same sex, especially if not identified as bi.
Overall therefore, the system by which we label attraction (sexual orientation) is poorly suited for it's purpose, and also constraining.
Gender Identity
Gender is considered the mental counterpart to physical sex. Just because someone is physically male does not make their gender male. Nor are genders confined to male and female (just like orientation and physical sex are not). The more well known genders include female, male, transgendered, neutrois, androgynous, pangender, and third gender.
Transgendered is an umbrella term that includes anyone who's gender is not accurately reflected by their physical sex; the opposite of this is cisgendered.
Neutrois gendered individuals not only do not feel their gender aligns either as male or female, but also feel uncomfortable with the sex characteristics, genitals, etc., that create the "male" or "female" body. Even though this gender may seem fairly specific, it can still be broad since truely unsexing a body is nearly impossible.
Androgynous gender is essentially the opposite from a neutrois; while androgynes do not feel aligned to either male or female, they feel their bodies would be better suited for them were they to be compiled of the various characteristics of male and female both. This is also a bit general because obviously different androgynes may aspire to molding their bodies into any given combination of "female" and "male" attributes.
Pangender is a more general term which encompasses both androgynous and neutrois. It indicates an individual with no gender and all the possible genders. These individuals have a very broad range of how they may perceive and present their gender.
Third Gender is a general term for many other specific genders:
**Alright, I'm not done but this is taking me a while to type up. I'm not even through with the paragraphs above, but I'm going to stop for a while to clean up my apartment and such. I promise to finish soon, hopefully tonight. ** <3
