The documentary, Every Body (2023) by Julie Cohen, starts off with a montage of “gender-reveal” party videos, which have now become elaborate stunts that couples use to discover and announce the expected gender of their unborn baby through two colors. However, under this excitement-filled celebration lies a problematic reinforcement of binary sex and gender norms which simultaneously excludes and basically erases the existence of intersex individuals. This critical response paper aims to explore the flaws of gender reveal parties and their impact on reinforcing binary conceptions of sex and gender while exploring the insights and testimonials offered by the documentary. Gender reveal parties, as mentioned before, are centered around revealing …show more content…
Despite the documentary mentioning that up to 1.7% of people are born with intersex traits, those intersex individuals are often overlooked or disempowered in discussions about sex and gender. This prolonged stigma and marginalization for intersex individuals leads them to face medical interventions, discrimination, and a lack of respect and recognition for their identities. Intersex individuals are also more likely to face pressure to undergo medical interventions such as surgeries and hormone treatments, usually without their consent to conform them to binary sex norms. Cohen sheds light on these struggles as the documentary features interviews with the three intersex activists who share their experiences of medical interventions and the impact on their sense of identity and emotional and physical well-being. For instance, the documentary introduces Alex, who speaks about the pressure to undergo surgeries to "normalize" their body. Alex's story highlights the harm caused by medical interventions that prioritize binary sex over individual autonomy and bodily integrity. Every Body emphasizes the importance of centering intersex voices and experiences to challenge erasure and promote …show more content…
This is why it is necessary to support documentaries like Every Body since they offer a platform for intersex voices and experiences. Another crucial aspect of inclusivity is using correct language and terminology that acknowledges and respects diverse identities. Terms like "assigned female at birth" (AFAB) and "assigned male at birth" (AMAB) are examples of language that recognizes the social assignment of sex at birth without assuming a binary gender identity. By adopting the correct terminology, we can move forward to create a more inclusive space that honors the complexity and fluidity of sex and gender identities, including those of intersex individuals who may not fit traditional binary categories. Inclusivity also involves promoting representation and visibility for marginalized communities, including intersex individuals. This could mean intensifying intersex voices, sharing their stories, and challenging mainstream and outdated narratives. It is also essential to question and deconstruct these binary frameworks which recognize that sex and gender exist on a spectrum. Therefore, moving forward we should all work towards creating an inclusive space and policies that prioritize diversity and equality, which includes advocating for inclusive healthcare practices, legal
"Skin blemishes made it impossible for me to really enjoy myself. I was always worrying about the way I looked" (Brumberg, p. 87). Woman all around the world share the same problem, they feel unhappy and self-conscious with the appearance of their bodies. In The Body Project by Joan Jacobs Brumberg, she successfully illustrates the way adolescents begin to change focus from inner to outer beauty in the early 19th and 20th centuries. Through use of personal diaries and historical research, Brumberg shows her readers the physical differences between girls then and now. Brumberg talks about an array of topics in her book – periods, acne, dieting, piercing, virginity, and sexuality. From their roots in the 1800’s through the Victorian era and into modern society the reader gets a glimpse of the way young women evaluate their bodies and turn them into body projects, and is still to this day sweeping the nation more than ever.
In How Sex Changed by Joanne Meyerowitz, the author tell us about the medical, social and cultural history of transsexuality in the United States. The author explores different stories about people who had a deep desired to change or transform their body sex. Meyerowitz gives a chronological expiation of the public opinion and how transsexuality grew more accepted. She also explained the relationship between sex, gender, sexuality and the law. In there the author also address the importance of the creation of new identities as well as how medication constrain how we think of our self. The author also explain how technological progress dissolve the idea of gender as well as how the study of genetics and eugenics impacts in the ideas about gender/sexuality and identity. But more importantly how technology has change the idea of biological sex as unchangeable.
The medicalization of transgender tendencies, under what was Gender Identity Disorder, was demoralizing to all transgender people. This resulted in a form of structured and institutionalized inequality that made an entire group of people internalize their problems, making them question not only their own identity, but also their sanity. Therefore, the removal of this disorder from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) in 2013 and the newest editions was important in that it shows society’s recognition and acceptance of the transgender
Sex exists in a binary system of male and female, and people can be forced into this binary. A mother of an intersex child states that the surgery comes from “the message that a child’s body is not acceptable as-is and should conform to what the state thinks it should be” (“Their Baby Was Born”). Sex, just like gender, exists in a binary, and when individuals do not fall into the two categories, society becomes uncomfortable. Sex, like gender, is socially constructed (Fausto-Sterling). This means that sex is a spectrum and not the binary it has been made to be. However, society continues to see the binary as normal and will attempt to force individuals to fit the already established system. Because they are in the middle of the sex spectrum rather than at the ends, most intersex individuals in the documentary experienced and continue to experience the same pressures to conform described by the mother and Fausto-Sterling. One person identified with the female gender, but her mother raised her as male. Despite her gender identification, she was continually told to be more masculine and to conform to her assigned male sex and gender. Others also had their appearance shaped through surgery and other means to fit into the sex-gender binary but now choose to identify as neither male nor female. However, this lack of gender-sex identification can leave them socially isolated since
“Boys will be boys, and girls will be girls”: few of our cultural mythologies seem as natural as this one. But in this exploration of the gender signals that traditionally tell what a “boy” or “girl” is supposed to look and act like, Aaron Devor shows how these signals are not “natural” at all but instead are cultural constructs. While the classic cues of masculinity—aggressive posture, self-confidence, a tough appearance—and the traditional signs of femininity—gentleness, passivity, strong nurturing instincts—are often considered “normal,” Devor explains that they are by no means biological or psychological necessities. Indeed, he suggests, they can be richly mixed and varied, or to paraphrase the old Kinks song “Lola,” “Boys can be girls and girls can be boys.” Devor is dean of social sciences at the University of Victoria and author of Gender Blending: Confronting the Limits of Duality (1989), from which this selection is excerpted, and FTM: Female-to-Male Transsexuals in Society (1997).
She is the author of the book Contesting intersex: The Dubious Diagnosis. Dr. Davis in her book talks about her personal experience as an intersex person, interviews with other people that are also intersex, the opinion of the medical field parents of intersex individuals, and also members of the different organization that fights for the rights of intersex people. The focus of Dr. Davis book is the significance
Kendal, Diana. "Sex and Gender." Sociology in Our Times 3.Ed. Joanna Cotton. Scarborough: Nelson Thomson, 2004. 339-367
The sex and gender binary is a socially-constructed classification of sex and gender into two distinct and biological forms of masculine and feminine. The binary is a restricting concept that enforces the ideology that solely two genders exist—it is a social boundary that limits people from exploring gender identity or mixing it up (Larkin, 2016). As Mann depicts it, the binary constrains us to take on one gender identity, and to follow through with the expected roles assigned to that gender. The implications are that it compels people to fit into the binary and follow the patriarchal, heteronormative traditions of society (Mann, 2012). However, the binary was not always so clear-cut, but certain concepts from scientific research such as the
Preves, Ph.D., Sharon E. "Intersex Narratives: Gender, Medicine, and Identity." Gender, Sex, and Sexuality. New York: Oxford University, 2009. 32-42. Print.
Treatment of intersex individuals was motivated by psychosocial problems, such as sex categories that may make socializing uncomfortable. John Hopkins University wanted to make each child’s body, upbringing, and mind align as much as possible. John Money 1953, believed that people with intersex should be surgically and socially engineered in a healthy psychosocial way. Cheryl Chase was the founder of the Intersex Society of North America. The women’s health movement, and queer rights movement, and Intersex Society of North America, allowed intersex individuals to become more open about being intersexed. Since 1993, the internet’s growth has allowed intersex individuals to meet others like them, and since then, education has allowed others to
Society today suggest that revealing the “gender” or “sex” of a child from the moment of conception forward is a necessity. But, in all actuality to some this is an invasion of their privacy and beliefs. Many believe that raising a child gender specific is not important to their upbringing or to their growth and development. Gender is defined with several different meanings such as the behavioral, cultural or psychological traits typically associated with the one sex. The sex of an individual, male or female, based on reproductive anatomy (the category to which an individual is assigned on the basis of sex) and the personal traits or personality that we attach to being male or female. Sex is defined as the biological distinctions determined by our genitalia.
It seems that one of today’s trending topics is transgender and sex-change surgeries; with merging stories in the media about parents supporting their transgender kids, famous people revealing their true gender identity (as Bruce Jenner, Laverne Cox, and other celebrities), and also the tragic stories of Walt Heyer and David Reimer (who had had sex-change surgeries, but did not have a happy ending) transgender issues have become forefront in modern times. Society has focused on discussing, defining, and creating movements in support of the growing communities of lesbians, gays, and bisexuals. It is recently that transgender people, gender dysphoric, and sex-change surgeries are receiving public attention and it seems that society knows little
Society has planted a representation into people’s minds on how each gender is supposed to be constructed. When one thinks of the word gender, the initial responses are male and female but gender may be represented in many additional terms. As defined, “Gender refers to the social expectations that surround these biological categories.” (Steckley, 2017, pg.256) Gender is something that is ascribed,
According to Kate Bornstein and their work Gender Outlaw, “the first question we usually ask new parents is: Is it a boy or a girl?” (46). This question creates a sense of a rigid dichotomy, by which individuals must outwardly conform to either being male or female. Individuals who do not prescribe to this binary concept of gender identity find themselves ostracized from much of society – ignored, ridiculed, and laughed at as an insignificant minority. For this group of people, “either/or is used as a control mechanism,” creating a normative group by which power can be derived from (102). According to Bornstein, the concept of the gender binary being the “natural state of affairs” is one of the most dangerous thoughts proliferated about gender within modern society (105). For individuals who do not conform to this socially created structure, they are seen as opposing the natural order of things, and subsequently, their power is stripped by society, and they are deemed as unnatural and inhuman. These oppressive labels create intense feelings of gender dissonance, and the pressure to conform can often overwhelm the individual, directly resulting in often horrific
The relationship between sex and gender can be argued in many different lights. All of which complicated lights. Each individual beholds a sexual identity and a gender identity, with the argument of perceiving these identities however way they wish to perceive them. However, the impact of gender on our identities and on our bodies and how they play out is often taken for granted in various ways. Gender issues continue to be a hugely important topic within contemporary modern society. I intend to help the reader understand that femininities and masculinities is a social constructed concept and whether the binary categories of “male” and “female” are adequate concepts for understanding and organising contemporary social life with discussing the experiences of individuals and groups who have resisted these labels and forged new identities.