#suzanne kessler

[i-kn0w-my-valu3]

“The Medical Construction of Gender”- Suzanne Kessler

Kessler’s article brought new light on how bias the medical field truly is. From the moment of birth you are assumed your gender role by the call of “it’s a boy” or “it’s a girl”. However when it comes to intersex infants they are a bit more confused and try to impose certain assumptions about what medical treatment the patient should undergo to treat this ‘medical condition’. “Alternatively, physicians who have had considerable experience dealing with this conduction were interviewed. I do not assume that their ‘talk’ about how they manage such cases mirrors their ‘talk’ in the situation, but their words do reveal that they have certain assumptions about gender and that they have certain assumptions via their medical decisions on their patients they treat.”

The further I read the passage the more uncomfortable I became with the fact that Kessler began to sate how from such a very young age intersex infants are going through series of surgeries to fix the medical condition they have. It’s up to the parents to decide what sex the child will have. It makes me uncomfortable to see that infants have no choice for the matter on what their preferred sex is. Furthermore, the way Kessler states “I believe, to the general impression that the infant’s true, natural ‘sex’ has been discovered,and that something that was there all along has been found. It also serves to maintain the credibility of the medical profession, reassure the parents,”  It almost as the reason why they undergo the surgeries is to make the medical practitioner keep the title that they are always right, that’s what makes it even more unsettling. In order to make up for not noticing that the child is intersex they try to reassure the parents that that it can easily be fixed. “Other inappropriate remarks a doctor might make in post-delivery consultation with the parents include, ‘you have a little boy, but he’ll never function as a little boy, so you better raise him as a little girl.’ As a result, the pediatric endocrinologist, ‘the family comes away with the idea that they have a little boy, and that’s what they wanted, and that's what they’re going to get’”.

[sam613-blog1]

The Journey of Transgender

My response/post is based off the following readings:

“Transgendering: Blurring the Boundaries of Gender” by Wendy McKenna and Suzanne Kessler

“Transgender Liberation” by Leslie Feinberg

“Be All that You Can Be” by Bornstein

________________________________________________________________

These redings portrayed the life of the word “transgender”. It has gone through various religions, cultures, races, and just societies in general. Modern day, the ‘natural attitude’ towards gender is the stereotype that there are only 2 genders. Transgender came along and challenged these beliefs. However, transgender can date back to B.C. years. In “Transgender Liberation”, Feinberg presents how transgender used to be a very normal thing throughout society, However, “a bloody campaign” that occurred due to the ruling class made transgender become ‘unnatural’. Feinberg presented how kings, queens, and even gods (mainly the Greek gods) were transgender and/or cross dressed. However, this normality of femininity and dressing was downgraded due to higher ups such as Catholic churches. This began the oppression and the discrimination against transgender people, which sounds horrible to me. If it was something normal, why change it? People should be allowed to be whatever/whoever they please, as long as it isn’t harming themselves or others. 

[sam613-blog1]

“The Medical Construction of Gender” : Suzanne Kessler

After reading Kessler’s writing, I learned about something called inter-sexed babies, where a bay is born and the sex can’t be properly determined due to something wrong with the genitalia. Even though these babies have no proven gender at the time, they are mainly treated as/to become male. Why should the baby be treated as male though? There’s an easy way to correctly determine the gender even without the genitalia, and that is through the chromosomes of the baby. However, the baby is still treated as male, even to the point where its genitalia is called an “underdeveloped phallus” rather than an “overdeveloped clitoris”. Although there is a lot of pressure on the parents to do official paperwork for the child, they should check the gender via a hormone or chromosome test instead of automatically treating the baby as male, which sometimes causes the baby to unfortunately undergo a correction surgery.  

[mlysx0]

The Medical Construction of Gender by Suzanne Kessler

In Kessler's article, she discusses a term that is referred to as intersexuality.  According to her, intersexuality refers to infants that are born with genitals that are neither clearly male nor clearly female.  I think this is a good topic to discuss because something like intersexuality can be extremely confusing to the average person.  When one is born, the doctor takes a look at them and declares that they are either male or female based on their genitals.  In the rare case that the infant's parts aren't very clear, I wonder if a doctor is ever appalled or taken back as to what to do.  Personally I know if I were an OB and this occurred in my delivery room, I would be just a little shocked.  But nonetheless, things like this DO occur and the infant needs to be labeled because that's just how society does things from birth.

I feel like this would be an extremely hard thing to determine and I think it should be left up to the child and/or his or her parents to decide what gender they want to label their child.  The reason I say the child should have a decision in this is because as they get older and they become more in touch with their body, they may choose to identify themselves using their female genitalia even though they were raised to be a male or vice versa.  Of course the parents have a say so in this but I personally feel it should be left up to the child to identify their self because this can be a very confusing and overwhelming thing for a person.

[forgenderstudiesclass]

Reading Response to "The Five Sexes: Why Male and Female Are Not Enough" by Anne Fausto-Sterling and "The Medical Construction of Gender" by Suzanne Kessler

The article by Sterling gave a brief overview on why have two sexes are not sufficient because there are people who have both reproductive organs which Sterling identifies as "herms," "merms," and "ferms." The reason for this is because, although many "intersexes" enjoy a fulfilling life, a great amount of them still live in fear of being ridiculed and feel the stigma of having more than one reproductive organ. The idea that accepting "herms," "merms," and "ferms," as official sexes will stop insults is foolish. That idea gives hope that the human race neither deserves nor will achieve because humanity will always have something to insult, complain, or slur against even if that something is not relevant to them in any way. To be born with more than one sex organ does not affect anyone, yet it is not accepted.

The article "The Medical Construction of Gender" by Kessler explains the painfully long and, one can assume, expensive process of turning an intersexed infant into either a boy or a girl. The whole process just proves how important it is to fit in the social construction of the world. Parents would mutilate their own child just so the child could a life with an identity as a boy or girl and assume a "gender." The intolerance of society pushes people so far to meet its constructed standards including parents and children. It all boils down to conformity and roles in society. If a person cannot be identified being a boy or girl, man or woman, male or female, that person will not have a place in society and the only reason why is because society will not know how to assign gender roles to the person.

[viletruths-blog]

A response to "Transgendering: Blurring the Boundaries of Gender" by Wendy Mckeena and Suzanne Kessler, "Transgender Liberation" by Leslie Feinberg, and "Be All that You Can Be" from My Gender Workbook by Kate Bornstein

All of these readings were interesting and looked at different aspects of the term “transgender”. Bornstein used personal experience and definitions from others to explain the term, which showed that everyone doesn't have the same meaning for the term. Feinberg looked at it from a historical context, where explained that transgenders were normally women, and those women were honored and respected on the same level as men. McKenna and Keesler also looked at transgender from a historical context, used linguistics, and incorporated theories. I liked Bornstein’s reading the most because she explained that to be transgender doesn't mean to alter you genitalia, but some people make the choice to do that. To be transgender means to be absent minded about what you were taught what was “normal” when it came to playing your gender role. I remember growing up and being close to this women in my building, because I thought she was flyest and prettiest female in this world. She was a model and she did a damn good job at it. I remember when she moved away, my mom felt like she had to tell me that my role model was a transsexual. I was kind of confused, because a transsexual was never in my vocabulary. My mom further explained to me that y role model was born a “he”. I know my mom didn't want to tell me from before because she knew I had a big mouth, would ask too many questions, and ask to see various body parts (yes I was a very inquisitive child lol!). I knew my dad never wanted me to be around her as much as I was, because he’s old school and could never grasp the idea of someone feeling they were living in the wrong body. I remember the various reactions when the news spread throughout the building. Some were appalled, some were shocked, some didn't care, and some were oblivious to who she was. Then I realized that even if she was a born a male, she was the prettiest male in the worlddddd!

Source: "Transgendering: Blurring the Boundaries of Gender" by Wendy Mckeena and Suzanne Kessler, "Transgender Liberation" by Leslie Feinberg, and "Be All that You Can Be" from My Gender Workbook by Kate Bornstein

[krystalb1089-blog]

Wendy McKenna and Suzanne Kessler article Transgendering: Blurring the Boundaries of Gender

Leslie Feinberg article Transgender Liberation

Bornstein Be all that You can be from My Gender WorkBook

When I think of transgender I see Chaz Bono!!!! The reason why is Chaz has become a man and it was long journey. Chaz is the role model to many kids out there basically saying if you feel different it ok because we are all born different and it is ok to have the feeling that we are born in the wrong body. I feel that transgender and transsexuals mean the same thing because a person can change their sex with or without surgery. Personal I accept people for who they are I have friends who are gay, straight, bi, transgender and they are good people. I don’t know why society views this as wrong. I think society has too many close minded people in the world. The Navaho’s have 3 genders men, women and nadle which are the transgender person. The Native Americans have berdache are the transgender. The Navahos and the Native Americans are not complaining about the transgender why should we? Even way back in the days the Romans through big orgy parties’ wherever one had sex with everyone one that was not a problem. So why do we look at transgender people the wrong way? I can understand the whole religious thing but transgender people are people and they pay taxes to just like the African Americans, Latinos, and the Whites. There is no need to hate or dislike transgender people. I think transgender are going through what minorities, gay and lesbians are going through to be seen as people and not slaves or animals or the other. They just want to feel right in there body and not feel like they do not belong. This should not bother someone because it is not affecting anyone else body.

[viletruths-blog]

Dear My Vagina,... I love you...

I loved how all these readings relate to one another and focus on the anatomy of women and men. I liked how Martin pointed out that things we read on daily can perpetuate sexism, especially in science text. Overall, I think the vagina is a very awesome organ. It cleans itself without douche, it can stretch and snap right back into place, etc. I'm proud to have a vagina!

Also, Fausto-Sterling's and Kessler's reading stood out to me because it took what is considered to be the normal anatomy of a male and female to another level. I never really studied or heard about hermaphrodites. Personally I think its cool to have been born with both genitals, but i think society has pushed that there is only suppose to be two sexes as "normal". I agree with Sterling that there needs to be Five Sexes. I think parents are forced to make a decision on which sex to choose for their infant child. I personally believe that they should leave it up to child to choose whether or not they want to be one genital or keep the both of them. Especially since you don't know which one would stimulate them more when they get older.

Sources:"The Egg and the Sperm: How Science Has Constructed a Romance Based on Stereotypical Male-Female Roles" by Emily Martin, "The Medical Construction of Gender" by Suzanne Kessler, and "The Five Sexes: Why male and female are not enough" by Anne Fausto-Sterling