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The discussion of biology and literature has muddled what I thought were pretty clear-cut ideas about the relationship between biology and sex and especially their impact feminist politics.  I have in the past given an impatient eye-roll to those who insist that sex (not gender) is a social construct.  I have maintained a sort of "softserve" idea of sex; you are one, or the other, or a mix of both.  And then your gender is for you to challenge, discover, embrace.  Middlesex may be shifting this for me.  Cal is the softserve "swirl" and can never truly reach an understanding of their gender.  I wonder to what extent our sex influences our gender; perhaps with more flexiblity of sex, we can more easily understand our gender.  

I came close to arguing last class that maybe Septa asks customers to specify gender for their own sake -- for future marketing, advertising, statistics of where men are going and where women are going.  Assuming this IS the case, why is THAT alone not nearly as offensive as the idea of putting down your race for the same purpose?  Should it be?