Discourse: Part 2
The problem of developing a clear and consistent language with which to describe the transsexual experience is inherent in the English language itself. We have only two words that refer to human dimorphism, sex and gender. Both of these words have more than one meaning. When speaking of transsexuality, we use gender to describe a person's inner gender identity. But in the wider realm of society, gender is interpreted to mean gender role, gender expression, social gender, etc. and is often used interchangeably with "sex." The word sex suffers from an association with genitalia, behavior and the sex act.
In the minds of the cisgendered population, the sex and gender of an individual are congruous, thus, externally visible traits are assumed to match internal, invisible, psychological traits. In other words, people are expected to see themselves way others see them. The observer's experience of an individual is expected to parallel that individual's experience of himself or herself. Our language of dimrophism was developed based on this principle.
"Female" refers to a person with a certain set of physical and mental characteristics encompassing both sex and gender. But if this "female" has a brain that is male, he sees himself differently than the way others see him. He is a man wearing a feminine disguise, being interpreted and reacted to as though he were a woman. The words sex and gender, as generally understood by cisgendered people, don't apply to him.
To get specific, we might most acurately describe him as someone whose brain is hard-wired male but who has an otherwise female body and who seeks medical treatment to masculinize his body so that it more closely aligns with his internal self-image. Or vice versa for an MTF. But how do we capture that with a single word?
I don't have the answer. Perhaps we could turn to a language that has two separate words for the state of being male or female and the act of having sex, and thus firmly distinguishes between these two concepts. Or a language that makes a distinction between inner gender identity and social gender, between subjective gender and objective gender, if such a language exists.
Wolf
The problem of developing a clear and consistent language with which to describe the transsexual experience is inherent in the English language itself. We have only two words that refer to human dimorphism, sex and gender. Both of these words have more than one meaning. When speaking of transsexuality, we use gender to describe a person's inner gender identity. But in the wider realm of society, gender is interpreted to mean gender role, gender expression, social gender, etc. and is often used interchangeably with "sex." The word sex suffers from an association with genitalia, behavior and the sex act.
In the minds of the cisgendered population, the sex and gender of an individual are congruous, thus, externally visible traits are assumed to match internal, invisible, psychological traits. In other words, people are expected to see themselves way others see them. The observer's experience of an individual is expected to parallel that individual's experience of himself or herself. Our language of dimrophism was developed based on this principle.
"Female" refers to a person with a certain set of physical and mental characteristics encompassing both sex and gender. But if this "female" has a brain that is male, he sees himself differently than the way others see him. He is a man wearing a feminine disguise, being interpreted and reacted to as though he were a woman. The words sex and gender, as generally understood by cisgendered people, don't apply to him.
To get specific, we might most acurately describe him as someone whose brain is hard-wired male but who has an otherwise female body and who seeks medical treatment to masculinize his body so that it more closely aligns with his internal self-image. Or vice versa for an MTF. But how do we capture that with a single word?
I don't have the answer. Perhaps we could turn to a language that has two separate words for the state of being male or female and the act of having sex, and thus firmly distinguishes between these two concepts. Or a language that makes a distinction between inner gender identity and social gender, between subjective gender and objective gender, if such a language exists.
Wolf
posted by Wolfgang | 10:00 AM
3 Comments:
this is really a great post, wolf...thank you for it! i've rarely seen the problems inherent to meaningfully discussing the trans experience laid out so clearly and concisely. i can totally see myself pointing friends here as they seek to understand more clearly.
i've subscribed to your feed, so i hope you'll write more as you're able...and thanks for the sweet compliment! flattery may not get you everywhere, but it will definitely get you a blog reader or two! =)
Thanks Ally! I probably won't be writing much here for awhile. I've been pretty busy, working my two jobs so I can save up for my surgery, but I'll get back to it eventually.
I'll wait with baited breath, Wolf!
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