The question of sex

I suppose the subject of our recent class discussions that I personally found the most interesting and engaging was the way in which the world determines and classifies gender.  I took a particular note at the discussion of the existence of numerous genders, not simply the typical male and female genders that we as a society are largely accustomed to.  I myself, up until this past week, was under the general impression the sex of a human being was either male or female and was mostly oblivious to the grey zone of gender that lies between the two.  However, this week’s lectures, readings, and classroom discussions were quite revealing to me.

            Since our studies began to delve into the details of defining sex and gender I have found myself attempting to resolve why we have become so narrow minded in our perception of the two.  It seems to me that people would rather the situation be, as they do in innumerous other matters, be a matter of black and white.  That is, simple and easy with no doubts or apprehension of the affair.  I am confidant that for most people the perception of what sex is and what it should be comes from their cultures, which are typically steeped in traditions and religion.

            Historically speaking, there are hardly any cultures that take the many variables of sex and gender wholly into account, at least not when addressing matters such as family, marriage, and community.  In many civilizations across the globe, the ideas of what are expected of people are nearly uncanny.  A male is typically expected to mate with a female and the two are to raise offspring together.  But as our lectures have proven, this simply cannot be the case for every human being.  What about people that are born with the genitalia of both of these sexes?  Or in many cases a man or a woman may in fact be homosexual or bisexual and would lack the desire to follow these traditional ways of life.  These people are typically labeled social deviants in that they deviate from their cultural or societal norms.  Acceptance, or at the very least tolerance, of those who are of atypical gender or sex is, as a result of history, considered progressive.

            But why did these cultures develop in such a way?  Why are there so few peoples who are not perturbed by sexual variance?  My personal reasoning for why this is comes back to what I consider a truism for all things, people fear what they do not understand.  An overwhelming majority of people across the globe is in fact either male or female and are heterosexuals.  Many of these people simply cannot fathom why anyone would stray from these guidelines of sex that they themselves follow.  Since they cannot understand this they must find someway to deal with it, and it is far easier to simply reject these variances and label them as wrong or an error that it is to accept it.