Questioning Gender Theories

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that one of the most important theories posed by gender identity scholars is that the distinction of two sexes, male and female as well as the distinction of two genders, man and woman, is questionable. It points out that the existence of hermaphrodites and other bodies of indeterminate gender calls into question the bifurcation of gender, as well as the division of "sex" into male and female categories. The writer also discusses how gender roles tend to be solidified fairly stringently in our culture along lines of male and female alone.

From the Paper:

"Sex is a biological given. Some animal species have one sex, some have two, and some have more than two. This is interesting to scientists perhaps, in terms of its physical construction. However, gender is what culture "does" with these distinctions of physiology. Gender is how culture interprets the apparent biological differences between particular human bodies of different sexual anatomy. What does it mean, for instance, that a certain body may be capable of giving birth later in life, and another body may not? It is here, in the distinctions between bodies observed and imposed by our culture, where sociologists and theorists of gender identity find their theoretical interests aroused, poised for deconstructive action."

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