Synopsis
Okumaya devam et...
← Previous revision | Revision as of 15:23, 9 May 2024 |
| Line 24: | Line 24: |
| ==Synopsis== | ==Synopsis== |
| Drawing from the empirical research of [[intersex]] children, Anne Fausto-Sterling describes how the doctors address the issues of intersexuality. She starts her argument with an example of the birth of an intersexual individual and maintains "our conceptions of the nature of gender difference shape, even as they reflect, the ways we structure our social system and polity; they also shape and reflect our understanding of our physical bodies."<ref>Fausto-Sterling (2000) p. 45.</ref> Then she adds how gender assumptions affects the scientific study of sex by presenting the research of intersexuals by John Money et al., and she concludes that "they never questioned the fundamental assumption that there are only two sexes, because their goal in studying intersexuals was to find out more about 'normal' development."<ref>Fausto-Sterling (2000) p. 46.</ref> She also mentions the language the doctors use when they talk with the parents of the intersexuals. After describing how the doctors inform parents about the intersexuality, she asserts that because the doctors believe that the intersexuals are actually male or female, they tell the parents of the intersexuals that it will take a little bit more time for the doctors to determine whether the infant is a boy or a girl. That is to say, the doctors' behavior is formulated by the cultural gender assumption that there are only two sexes. Lastly, she maintains that the differences in the ways in which the medical professionals in different regions treat intersexual people also give us a good example of how sex is socially constructed.<ref name="Fausto-Sterling, Anne 2000">Fausto-Sterling (2000)</ref> In her ''[[Sexing the Body]]: gender politics and the construction of sexuality'', she introduces the following example:<blockquote> A group of physicians from Saudi Arabia recently reported on several cases of XX intersex children with [[congenital adrenal hyperplasia]] (CAH), a genetically inherited malfunction of the [[enzyme]]s that aid in making [[steroid hormones]]. [...] In the United States and Europe, such children, because they have the potential to bear children later in life, are usually raised as girls. Saudi doctors trained in this European tradition recommended such a course of action to the Saudi parents of CAH XX children. A number of parents, however, refused to accept the recommendation that their child, initially identified as a son, be raised instead as a daughter. Nor would they accept feminizing surgery for their child. [...] This was essentially an expression of local community attitudes with [...] the preference for male offspring.<ref>Fausto-Sterling (2000) pp. 58–59.</ref></blockquote> | Drawing from the empirical research of [[intersex]] children, Anne Fausto-Sterling describes how the doctors address the issues of intersexuality. She starts her argument with an example of the birth of an intersexual individual and maintains "our conceptions of the nature of gender difference shape, even as they reflect, the ways we structure our social system and polity; they also shape and reflect our understanding of our physical bodies."<ref>Fausto-Sterling (2000) p. 45.</ref> Then she adds how gender assumptions affects the scientific study of sex by presenting the research of intersexuals by John Money et al., and she concludes that "they never questioned the fundamental assumption that there are only two sexes, because their goal in studying intersexuals was to find out more about 'normal' development."<ref>Fausto-Sterling (2000) p. 46.</ref> She also mentions the language the doctors use when they talk with the parents of the intersexuals. After describing how the doctors inform parents about the intersexuality, she asserts that because the doctors believe that the intersexuals are actually male or female, they tell the parents of the intersexuals that it will take a little bit more time for the doctors to determine whether the infant is a boy or a girl. That is to say, the doctors' behavior is formulated by the cultural gender assumption that there are only two sexes. Lastly, she maintains that the differences in the ways in which the medical professionals in different regions treat intersexual people also give us a good example of how sex is socially constructed.<ref name="Fausto-Sterling, Anne 2000">Fausto-Sterling (2000)</ref> In her ''Sexing the Body: gender politics and the construction of sexuality'', she introduces the following example:<blockquote> A group of physicians from Saudi Arabia recently reported on several cases of XX intersex children with [[congenital adrenal hyperplasia]] (CAH), a genetically inherited malfunction of the [[enzyme]]s that aid in making [[steroid hormones]]. [...] In the United States and Europe, such children, because they have the potential to bear children later in life, are usually raised as girls. Saudi doctors trained in this European tradition recommended such a course of action to the Saudi parents of CAH XX children. A number of parents, however, refused to accept the recommendation that their child, initially identified as a son, be raised instead as a daughter. Nor would they accept feminizing surgery for their child. [...] This was essentially an expression of local community attitudes with [...] the preference for male offspring.<ref>Fausto-Sterling (2000) pp. 58–59.</ref></blockquote> |
| Thus it is evident that culture can play a part in assigning gender, particularly in relation to intersex children.<ref name="Fausto-Sterling, Anne 2000" /> | Thus it is evident that culture can play a part in assigning gender, particularly in relation to intersex children.<ref name="Fausto-Sterling, Anne 2000" /> |
Okumaya devam et...