Main Post: Feb 17th

After reading the third chapter in Sexing the Body by Anne Fausto-Sterling I became frustrated at the fact that doctors are so determined to “control” or “fix” human beings to fall under the so called two categories of sexes. Fausto-Sterling states that “if there has been no prenatal ‘fix’ and an intersex child is born, doctors must decide, as they would put it, nature’s intention. Who gave these doctors the power to play God? These doctors are supposed to decide whether the child was “supposed” to be a girl or a boy. I am confused by the point where she states that nurture matters a great deal more than nature. If nurture matters more than nature than why are doctors in such a rush to choose whether these people should be male or female? Why not nurture them and allow either the parents or the child themselves to decide which sex they would like to be through socialization. The chapter talks about instances where the child “ought” to become male or female. What is somewhat frustrating is who says that there has to be or is only two sexes? According to Fausto-Sterling, 1.7 percent of all births are with intersex babies. At first, this number may seem very low but after looking at a specific population of a city with roughly 30,000 people, 5,100 people would have various degrees of intersexual developments. 5,100 is a lot of people, regardless of how many people it is compared too. Thus, if intersexuality occurs more often than we think, then wouldn’t that suggest that it is in fact normal rather than abnormal? Which would also suggest that there are more than just the two sexes. I also felt that the phall-o-meter is also really ridiculous. Again, who are these doctors to make this kind of criteria and why is it necessary? So if a baby boy is born with a penis that is smaller and 2.5cm his sex is in question and needs to be put under sex assignment? I find that quite ridiculous.