Middle Sexes is a wonderful documentary, depicting the many differences between sex, and sexual orientation. The documentary describes in detail the many biological differences there are between men and women. For many the idea that there are only two sexes seems logical. The problem with that thinking is that it is simply wrong. In today’s society people have the option to go through gender changing operations. Children are born with ambiguous genitals, increasing the number newborns that go through “gender assignment operations,” with the permission of their parents. The film depicts the many struggles the “middle sexes” go through daily for being different than the so called societal “norm”.
The LGBT community goes through a ton of scrutiny and ridicule. This directly relates to the Shaming Theory of Deviance. Even though it is clear by now homosexuality is not going anywhere, on average society views it as wrong or “deviant”. According to Margaret Cooper “rural lesbians who maintained the butch appearance were “outed” or identified as lesbians by others consequently lost the respect of their community” (Cooper 169). On top of verbal abuse the Transgender/ Transsexual community deal with a tremendous amount physical violence. It is unbelievable to think that society could be capable of such horrible things. I thought the personal accounts in the film from people of the Trans community to be most convincing that there is major flaw in our society.
Throughout history there has always been a group of people that were considered deviant or unwanted in society. In past years, African Americans were forced into slavery. In today’s society it is the “battle of the sexes”. We are taught growing up, that boys and girls are to act a certain way. We are taught not only from our parents but by everyone and everything in society. Boys are supposed to be tough, and play with “GI Joes”. Girls are supposed to “sweet” and play with the “easy bake oven”. Where did these stereotypes come from? As Lise Eliot describes in her book Pink brain Blue brain, “hidden among the obvious differences are some surprising exceptions and a lot of underlying similarities” (Eliot 16). The truth is there is very little difference between Male and female. Just like there is little difference between Heterosexual and Homosexual people. We just need the ability as Leslie Feinberg describes to “keep the door unlocked” (Feinberg 198). We have to stop caring about definitions and realize that definitions always exclude someone, or some group.
The most obvious solution to the problem would be to eliminate stigmas. With that almost being an impossible solution I thought it would be interesting if there could be a study done on the personality differences between People from every sexual orientation. The study would give personality tests to assess every person. The results would clump people together in personality types. Instead of including the person’s name they would only put their sexual orientation. What I would expect to see is a mix of every sexual orientation in every personality. I think the results of this study could help many people understand that a person is a person regardless of their sexual orientation.
Work Cited
Cooper, Margaret. Readings In Deviant Behavior. 6th. Boston: Pearson Education Inc.
Eliot, Lise. Pink Brain Blue Brain. Boston: Mariner Books, 2009.
Feinberg, Leslie. Transgender Warriors.
Word Count: 529
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