Alok V Menon on why SEX IS ALSO A SOCIAL CONSTRUCT.
I have been seeing for years how people talk about 'biological sex'. It surprises me how many folks claim it's 'scientific' when they don't have a clue about biology.
When we talk about humans, sex is something social, not 'biological'. Not objective. Not 'true'.
Sex is a social construct that we, humans, have created to classify newborn humans in two categories, the 2 sexes: male and female. The characteristic we take into account is genitalia. Baby has vagina-> female; baby has pennis-> male.
You may ask, "what about intersex people? Aren't you intersex yourself?" I am, and that's why I refuse to refer to intersexuality as the '3rd sex'.
Sex is so inherently limiting, so transphobic, that intersexuality can't fit under its definition. Someone is intersex when they present characteristics that escape the gender & sex binary.
Maybe it's a hormonal imbalance, which is my case; I produce standard level of testosterone and no LH or FSH, that regulate estrogen production which translates to not having a period, not producing eggs or my breasts not increasing their size during puberty.
Maybe it's having a vagina and internal testicles. Maybe your sexual chromosomes aren't XX or XY, instead they are XXY or X0.
If sex was solely biological for humans, do you think doctors would perform genital surgeries on babies? Do you think I'd have been given a contraceptive pill to have estrogen in my body, without being explained the secondary effects, or its purpose for that matter?
Do you think we would still be trying to 'fix' intersex people, as if their bodies were 'wrong'?
Interphobia and medical violence are the proof that sex never was neither will be 'biological'.
