Please Check One: Male or Female

Jennifer Reid Maxcy Myhre, Ariel Levy, and Anne Fausto-Sterling, explore gender identity within society. For years, there has been two accepted gender classifications of individuals, male or female. These three authors offer unique perspectives that educate the reader to the concept of androgynous groups. Myhre explores her own transformation in her essay, “One Bad Hair Day Too Many.” She explains that she was tired of taking care of her hair, applying make-up, and shaving her body. She moved outside the world in which she found herself entrapped. “So to christen my feminist rebirth, I quit shaving my legs. I threw away my high heels and my tight skirts, my makeup and my jewelry. I grew out my armpit hair, and I talked like a woman with a mission” (Myhre 86). She explains herself as androgynous instead of either male or female. She discusses accepting comments by young children to their parents asking her gender identity but resents adults who label her as monk, “fag,” and dyke. The other two authors focus on gender identity within the community instead of solely their own sexuality.

Levy examines lesbian communities, primarily in San Francisco, within her chapter, “Womyn to Bois.” Levy observes customary male sexual stereotypes that have developed within these lesbian groups. She explains that the lesbian population has adopted heterosexual gender positions. This subgroup is further divided into: butches, femmes, and “bois.” Levy’s primary focus is the “boi” culture that has developed and expanded. Members of this group mimic teenage boys in appearance. Some “bois” have mastectomies in order to fully emerge within this subgroup. It is often difficult to differentiate between the negative attributes of this female “boi” group from the negative attributes of their male, teenage counterparts. Both groups, at times, treat women with disrespect and negative animosity. Biases from the male culture are now being replicated within the lesbian community. Elisabeth Young-Bruehl, in her book, The Anatomy of Prejudices, discusses the bias hatred within sects of the lesbian/gay communities. “Masculine” gay men often abuse “female” gay men. The noted homophobia within the gay and lesbian community is a tragic replication of the biases within the heterosexual world.

Fausto-Sterling explores factors which determine one’s sexuality within her chapter, “Dueling Dualism.” She examines the evolution of Olympic testing to label participants as male or female. She explains that until 1968, female Olympic athletes were told to undress themselves in front of the judges in order to prove biological gender. After numerous complains from female participants, this system was changed. An obstacle that developed was that simple chromosome testing was not always reliable. Fausto-Sterling discusses Olympic athlete, Maria Patino, in order to illustrate her point. Mrs. Patino showed all physical attributes of a female but testing showed that she had a Y chromosome. This emphasizes the author’s point that determining one’s biological sex is a complex task. Labeling someone as male or female is not always valid yet is deemed necessary within competitive, athletic sports.

How do individuals, in today’s society, gain comfort when they feel entrapped in the body of the wrong sex? Cait clearly explained that women often find themselves caught in daily lives in which they have no desire to participate. Women and men should be free to explore their sexuality with themselves or other consenting adults in their own, private domains. Biases within these subgroups as well as society at large should cease. A name caller in one incident may become a victim at another point in time. Individuals may not agree with another’s gender choice, but that is no reason to ridicule it.