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sarahk's picture

To attempt to answer the

Submitted by sarahk on Thu, 10/02/2008 - 9:34am.

To attempt to answer the questions Alex posed:

 

1.) I think there is an emphasis on reducing the trans individual to notions of essentialist anatomical validity because we have somehow been conditioned culturally to attribute gender through a filter of genitals. According to the Kessler-McKenna article, we see genitalia and we accept mixed gendered characteristics on that same person as agreeing with the genitalia. So if a person's genitalia doesn't agree with their gender, our mind edits around the genitalia, reducing the body to its essentialist biological characteristics.

2.) This is an interesting concept I've never thought about before. I think trans people upset our whole system of categorizing gender, and we try to ignore what we can't categorize.

3.) "Passing" is important because it is tangible validation of one's gender attribution of one's self. It can be dangerous because it feeds into the already existing binary. If a trans tries so hard to fit into one sex or the other by "passing" for the other side of the binary, they are feeding the very system that defined their condition AS a condition in the first place. 

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