At
the moment of birth we are announced in one of two ways:
“It’s
a girl!” “ It’s a boy!” With one look at our genitals we
are declared to be one or the other. From that moment on
our parents visualize how our lives will be as girls or
boys, as women and men. Through our family, peers, and mass
media, society will simplify our lives by dictating to us
how to look, what to wear, what our names should be, whether
or not we can join a combat infantry and who we can marry.
For most of us, our gender identity comes easily; we don’t
need to think about it or what it means for how we conduct
ourselves in society. But what about the man with male chromosomes
and male sex organs who is nonetheless convinced he is really
a woman? Or the woman who looks and acts female but whose
chromosomes say she is male? Or the infants born with ambiguous
genitalia who, as adults, may experience their gender as
neither entirely female or male? Though some like to think
that society can determine how we see ourselves as men and
women, it is truly a complex combination of both forces,
biological and social.
Perhaps
one way to understand the point of gender role is to consider
that from the moment of conception we carry the chromosomes
that determine whether we will be female or male. Just six
weeks after conception, the fetal gonad begins to develop
into either female ovaries or the male testicles. It will
develop along the male pathway only if it receives the correct
genetic signal. That signal resides in a gene on the father’s
“Y” chromosome. Should his “Y” chromosome join with the
“X” chromosome the mother provides, that gene will trigger
a chain of fetal events that results in the birth of a boy
“XY”. Should the father provide an “X” chromosome, instead,
there is no genetic switch for the gonad to develop into
testicles and the baby will be a girl “XX”. However, during
the process where the gonads are changing into either ovaries
or testicles there is a hormone that is released called
androgens otherwise known as sex hormones. Depending on
the time frame and the amount of these hormones during the
crucial moment of change sometimes androgens will contribute
to the development of aberrations on some fetuses resulting
in a child that is physically half female and half male.
That is a philosophy to which Cheryl Chase, founder of the
Intersex Society of North America, takes exception.
When
Cheryl Chase was born 40 years ago, she was diagnosed as
having ambiguous genitals; in her case, normal female genitals
with a large clitoris. After three days, doctors advised
that she be “assigned” a male. She was given a male name
and birth certificate and raised as a boy until six months
short of her second birthday. When surgery revealed that
she had both one testis and one ovary, her “ large” clitoris
was removed, along with the inner vaginal labia. Her doctors
pronounced her a girl and told her parents to raise her
accordingly. (SIRS Researcher)
Cosmetic
surgery was a bit inadequate 40 years ago and would leave
people like Chase injured not from the lack of follow up
treatment but of the importance given to whether they had
testis or ovaries. Today’s practices are far superior and
enlightened partly because of the increased knowledge about
fetal sex development. Nonetheless, a sex change after 18
months is too much a psychological risk for a child who
must find a place in society.
Though
biological factors set the stage for the direction of one’s
physical being it is society that reinforces masculine and
feminine qualities. Tradition has conditioned us to respond
to individuals according to their sex. The encyclopedia
explains that American and European cultures have gender
identity down to a simple routine that has been handed down
from generation to generation. From the day of birth our
family has added to our perception of what we characterize
as masculine and feminine. Traditionally, parents raised
boys much differently than girls by encouraging them to
hold back their feelings and to be independent, self reliant
and competitive. Girls, on the other hand, were expected
to have the opposite characteristics. Toward the end of
the first year of life, before we can speak, we are starting
to get a sense that we are our own person and start to search
for what that means. As we grow through adolescence into
adulthood, our sense of gender becomes more defined through
our peers, mass media and schools.
People
of the same age, background, occupation, or social status
influence us starting at an early age. Even 3-year-olds
have ideas about what boys do and what girls do and put
pressure on one another to act according to those ideas.
A
boy who wears a frilly, pink shirt or a ponytail may be
ridiculed by classmates. In addition, many children tend
to select playmates of the same sex, which reinforces traditional
gender roles.
In
high school, peer groups have strongly defined gender roles
with rules about proper behavior for males and females.
During adolescence, winning the approval and acceptance
of peers can be more important than the approval of parents
. Individuals who do not meet the group’s expectations for
behavior may be subjected to being teased, left out of group
activities and other forms of pressure.
Television
also plays a large role in shaping an individual’s values,
attitudes, and behavior. A style of clothing or hairstyle
that becomes trendy on television or in motion pictures
quickly becomes trendy at school as well. Until 1980’s television
has portrayed women and men in stereotypical gender roles.
Characters who would participate in nontraditional gender
roles were frequently portrayed as silly. For example, a
male character whom takes care of a baby or a female character
who attempted to join the army would have failed miserably.
Such images have reinforced ideas about how a male or a
female was “suppose” to behave. Currently, there are many
female characters which are shown as assertive and independent
with nontraditional careers, such as surgeons, military
officers, or police officers, in addition, male characters
are shown as caring, nurturing husbands and parents. In
observing this trend, one can speculate that the media’s
images of men and women have an incredible impact on our
views of gender roles.
Family,
peers and mass media produce the images of which we choose
from. Most of us
conform easily to the images that
society sets forth and have a mind set of how the haracteristics
for each gender is to be. However, regarding the matter of
Cheryl Chase, a person that was biologically male and female,
shows that this is a very complex and complicated issue. Many
lines have been drawn and opinions have been formed about
gender roles but after reading about the biological phenomena
of transsexuals, it becomes obvious that this is a process
that is first biological then reinforced by society. In showing
the history of society from the 50’s to the 80’s it shows
that our culture is slowly transforming. Over the years as
society evolves into a more flexible and more accepting environment
we may tend to see the trends even increase as more people
feel the acceptance of society growing maybe more comfortable
coming out and truly expressing who they are.
