A Hermaphrodite's Decision

This blog post is in response to a reading by Professor Fausto-Sterling's 'The Five Sexes, Revisited,' vol. 40, no. 4, pp. 18-23, for my Gender & Sexuality course at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia with lecturer Margaret Mayhew.

Source: Fausto-Sterling A, 2000, ‘The Five Sexes, Revisited’, The Sciences, vol.40, no.4, pp. 18-23 (downloaded from La Trobe University Melbourne's library)

In the Fausto-Sterlings reading, she discussed the history behind hermaphrodites (individuals with both female and male genitalia) including the origin of the world hermaphrodite, historical cases of documented hermaphrodites, social and political implications of being a hermaphrodite and the scientific pathways for the understanding of hermaphrodite physiology. Fausto-Sterling's main argument was: why do we need to identify with being male, female, or hermaphrodite? I understood it as, why should we separate ourselves into 2 categories when or if we don't identity with either or we are both?

Though I understood Fausto-Sterling's argument, I'm only going to analyze a short case that was mentioned in the reading. A young hermaphrodite named Margaret grew up as a female until she hit puberty. That's when her voice deepened like a young male's and her irregular penis started taking on adult functions. As a result she demanded to become a man. Through the help of psychologists and a change of wardrobe, Margaret abandoned her female identity and took on a more masculine facade as Big James. Afterwards she explained to her sibling that "It's easier to be a man. You get more wages and you don't have to be married. If you're a girl and you don't get married, people make fun of you."

I let Big James' words sink in for a moment, then realized that though this case is probably decades old, the same philosophy and treatment of women still exists in the year 2014. There are still instances (In the USA) where business women, who are just as qualified as men (if not more), get paid less than their male counterparts. Not to mention that if you're an attractive woman who is single, you're often questioned about not being in a relationship. Being questioned about not being in a relationship isn't like being bullied in elementary school, but it certainly can be considered as a form of ridicule if one is continuously questioned about the matter. It's almost like as women getting married is what is expected of us, and if we've reached a certain age and we're not married, its a form of taboo.

With this in mind, I understand why Margaret decided to make the official change to Big James. As a hermaphrodite, she had the option to choose between the two sexes and she chose the one with more financial and social advantages. But I guess the real question here was why did Big James, in addition to the rest of us who may suffer from a female or male identity crisis, not able to choose to be both sexes or neither? Why do we allow ourselves to be forced into choosing?