Beyond the Binary Chapters 1-4






 In the the wonderfully written work titled "Beyond the Binary" by: Shannon Dea she discusses the topic of sex and gender. In the United states sex and gender are words that are used interchangeably. However, it is crucial that we understand that sex is what one is born with. Weather that be male or female it is the chromosomall and morphological make up of a person. Gender is not what one was born with rather is is what one identifies as being. So someone who was born with the chromosomes (XY) of a male is a male according to the sex of the person however, they may identify as being female. There are only two sex's but their are many ways in which a person can be identified as a gender. 

 Our society is programmed to assign a gender to a person before a person can even say hello. As I said above our society uses sex and gender interchangeably creating so that we automatically look at someone and without knowing their genetic makeup we assume they are either male or female. I think it is possible to meet someone without assuming their gender. I think that avoiding pronouns and not assuming anything until that person feels comfortable or is willing to share such information with you. However, I find that many times I will be walking through the city and subliminally I am taking notice of who may be male or female. While I wish there was a way in which I did not create this assumption there is also such deep rooted understanding in which typical men and women dress. I think that because our society has blended the two words sex and gender it is hard to take them apart and not assume a gender. I hope that further along we can find a way to separate the two. If we start to pull apart and teach from a young age the difference between sex and gender I think that we as a whole could be able to mitigate the issue. Though tough I believe their is an explanation and a way in which we as a society can not assume gender. I just am not sure how we can do it. I think future generations have the answers and can help to teach us how we can better ourselves and continue to be the change in the many generations to come. 

Photo: https://discoversociety.org/2016/12/06/focus-critical-perspectives-in-gender-and-sexuality/    

Comments

  1. Natalie VuSeptember 9, 2020 at 7:19 AM

    Hi Mary,

    Firstly, allow me to say "Wow!" I loved reading your piece and how incredibly thoughtful you were in your post! I believe your statement, "Our society is programmed to assign a gender to a person before a person can even say hello," tells us a lot about our society today. I found this point to be incredibly shocking, mostly because it is just so true. I believe that many of us are guilty of this, myself included. As much as we like to believe that we have progressed as a society, we are still faced with the issue/question of what is feminine and what is masculine. I wonder, then, what you thought about Dea's example of Caster Semenya? In her case, the body that she was born with differed from the chromosomes she was born with. What does this mean for assigning her a gender before truly meeting her? Is she the exception we need to teach others in order to let society know that sex and gender should not be interchangeable?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dr. NoraSeptember 13, 2020 at 11:10 AM

      Hi Mary and Natalie,

      Mary--I had Natalie's question too while reading your post and I would also love to hear your response to it. Why use chromosomes as definitive of sex? What sex does a person with XXXY chromosomes have? See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XXXY_syndrome

      Delete
    2. Philosophy and GenderSeptember 14, 2020 at 3:29 PM

      Thank you so much for bringing up this question. I am honestly not sure and am going to dive into that question and when I do have an answer I will come back.

      Delete
  2. Runa's blogSeptember 11, 2020 at 5:24 PM

    Hi Mary, I like your piece but I do disagree with your take on saying that it is possible for us to interact with someone without assuming their gender. We are constantly looking around at people that we pass by and see all the time and making other assumptions beyond their sexuality as well. This is simply human nature and not a bad thing. But what CAN avoid is voicing those assumptions if they are considered rude, and allow the person to clear out assumptions about them by letting them educate us about themselves. They key here would be to be patient and respectfully curious, not nosey. Nonetheless I agree with the rest of your piece and think it is very well written!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dr. NoraSeptember 13, 2020 at 11:11 AM

      Hi Runa,

      How do you tell if a behavior is part of human nature or not?

      Delete
  3. Anastasia's BlogSeptember 15, 2020 at 10:56 AM

    Hi Mary,
    I feel as though a simple way to think about it is: sex is what we are born as and gender is what we identify as or who we chose to be. I agree with your point that states that since society has merged sex and gender into one category, it is difficult to differentiate between the two. Do you think there is anything we can do instead of just waiting for future generations to make the circumstances better?

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

RIGHTS

Image
After doing the reading by Julia Serano I was very interested in how she shared her experiences living both as a men and women. It actually reminded me a lot of the Ted talk that we watched by Paula Stone Williams in the beginning of the semester. One of the main points that I think Serano hits is that transgender women are very marginalized in our society due to the fact that there is such a dominant male culture within our society. If you nail ask too much like a female he is deemed weird. This may mean in the way he acts, dresses, or in the way he speaks. If a woman acts to manly she could be looked at as weird as well. So for a transgender woman our culture makes it very hard for them to express fully who Who they want to be. Both Serano and Williams discuss how transgender women are not properly portrayed to the world. There are many women and male activist out there who are not in support of transgender woman. Serano believes that we need to fight for everyone’s rights that we ne...
Read more

Rousseau and Education

Image
     Childhood education was pushed forward when philosopher Rousseau claimed that women and men should not be treated the same in terms of education. He believes that both men and women are equal yet, men and women do not possess the same biological traits meaning that they should not be treated the same way in school. Rousseau believes that his way of teaching both men and women should be viewed as equal in a way and that the way women are treated in school is no less or greater then how the men are treated in school.        In the text Rousseau explained that men are seen as strong individuals while women are weak and supposed to be submissive. Today these social norms are still something that is said. We use these words to describe women and to me it seems to limit them. As we have come so far from Rousseau's harsh beliefs we also have a long way to go. Women in the country now are not viewed as such in school yet, our society still will say t...
Read more

Dembroff and Wodak's (2018) article "He/She/They/Ze"

 Before the crazy time of COVID when we were able to attend classes and sit right next to each other each teachers would always start the semester by asking us to say our names, our preferred pronouns as well as maybe a fun fact about ourselves. When I was a freshman we were never asked these questions. It was not until my Junior year where I was asked in all of my classes to disclose my preferred pronouns.  Reading  Dembroff and Wodak's (2018) article "He/She/They/Ze"  it got me thinking that teachers and or people asking one to provide their pro nouns is an invasion of privacy. I am not entirely convinced that is even something that needs to be asked. As the intention may be very pure in wanting to create an environment that aims to be more inclusive and understanding, it seems that by asking something so personal is beyond information that a teacher should need to know. I think asking students to say their names and calling them by their n...
Read more