The “Monstrosity” of Intersex

Through the first two weeks of class, we have talked about sexing the body, gender differences, and how politics and medicine impact the ways society interacts with these topics. By gender, society means male OR female. By race, society means black OR white. These binaries leave little room for difference and push people into a category, regardless of how they feel about themselves.

Elizabeth Reis gives a broad 340-year history of intersex in America in her piece “Impossible Hermaphrodites.” The three time periods she finds from 1620-1960 show how society viewed intersex people as monstrous, deceptive, and anxiety producing. Through all of these shifts, doctors, government officials, religion and the court molded societies views on sex and gender, giving only their “expert” views as options on sex and gender. Reis says “when biological cues proved inconclusive, medical men turned to social indicators—such as a person’s mannerisms, clothing or tastes—to make their determination of sex” (412). Medicine was the first step, but if those tests did not give clear answers, the person’s physical presentation was investigated and judged to make a decision about their sex, often without consultation by the individual.

The part of her article that stood out to me in particular was the “monstrous” idea; that people early in Reis’ history who were intersex were “sent by God as signals and warnings” (Reis, 415). The idea that people born intersex were therefore abnormal, linked to the devil, and their parents, particularly mothers, were being punished for their sins is an outlandish idea. There were theories of what mothers should not do during pregnancy, what she was expected to do and what sins would make her have a monstrous child; all of which turned a genetic occurrence into a shameful thing that placed blame on the mother for carrying the child.

Reis’ history continues, going through the 19^th and 20^th century as deception and anxiety became the large concerns. I think these fears deep down held on to the early fear of monstrosity; we as a society don’t like when we don’t see the clear answer and are deceived, and fear exists in that unknown space. Members of society did not know what to ask, or how to ask, the questions they had, and that confusion makes people wary. When the categories we have created to organize and identify people are collapsed (or expanded), the fear becomes apparent.

And as much as it seems like these worries may be almost gone (or at least slowly dissolving) in today’s culture, they are still very apparent in the lives of intersex, gender non-conforming and trans groups.

            Catherine Graffam wrote an article for the Huffington Post where she discusses how intersex is more than a diagnosis, and how as an intersex, trans woman she felt “deformed” and “inadequate” rather than existing at some point along a spectrum of sex. Graffam’s article was part of a series following Pride that shared trans and gender non-conforming voices to the Huffington Post audience. At one point she shares: “Once I started identifying as intersex I was able to begin the healing process. I no longer blamed myself for the way I was because I learned that there was nothing wrong with it.” Her article being part of a series of sharing and supporting individuals going through similar struggles as she did, where she shares these fears and breakthroughs, shows readers that though the fear is not gone, acceptance and support has grown in recent years.

            Another Huffington Post article followed a Dr. Phil episode where two parents were arguing over the gender identity of their child, Aubrey, who was born intersex. When Aubrey was born, the parents and doctors chose to do surgery to have Aubrey be female, and raised her as a girl for the first three years of her life. But then the parents divorced and their ideas of how to raise their child changed. This story shows too clearly the challenges and harm choosing an intersex child’s sex and gender identity at birth causes through their lifetimes, starting so early on. This practice of choosing for the child has happened since before Reis’ history begins, and the large consequences on the mental health and identity of those children have not changed.

            Reis showed us that fears of intersex people have existed for all of history, shifting from monstrous to anxiety producing and unknown. The issues surrounding intersex identities and non-conforming gender identities are not going to go away overnight, and filter through our everyday lives through media and society’s concept of history.

References:

Reis, Elizabeth. “Impossible Hermaphrodites: Intersex in America, 1620-1960.” 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/catherine-graffam/being-intersexmore-than-a_b_10264652.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/is-their-child-identifying-as-a-boy-or-girl_us_565c0070e4b072e9d1c2454f