The film “Middle Sexes” was about the intersex individuals and their different roles and perceptions in societies across the globe, from the United States, to India, Thailand and Africa. As a whole the film argued that the sexes of individuals are far more diverse than the western societal construct of a male and female binary. The fact is that due the complicated natural development of sex organs a person may develop both male and female attributes. This is supported by Anne Fausto-Sterling’s article “The Five Sexes” which states that people may have one testes and one ovary, testes and some aspects of female genitalia but no ovaries or ovaries and some aspects of the male genitalia but no testes¹. The movie focused heavily on the science of sexual development, particularly that due to various hormones and events during early developmental stages the brain and genitalia may develop naturally in different directions. According to the film about one percent of births are intersex and the Fausto-Sterling article suggests that as many as four percent of births are intersex². The film also illustrates that the male/female binary of gender is merely a social construct, and one that is impractical when considering the diversity in nature³. It is this social construct that creates the stigmatization of intersex people and creates the need to “fix” them. This social binary exists only because we as a society have created it and allowed it to persist. A strong argument that demonstrates this is the existence and roles of intersex people or “Katoy” in Thailand. Katoy’s are widely accepted in Thailand, and even embraced, as was seen in the film “Middle Sexes.” As a result they have a much larger population in Thailand. Christianity had little impact sexual roles in the society and Buddhism actually respects the intersex gender. Thus the lack a necessity for a clear male/female binary many of the Katoy live happy and full lives. It would seem that the western stigmatization of intersex based on our rigid male/female binary s the root cause of fear, violence, and shame towards intersex. The point that stands out the most for me is the fact that it is our own societal constructs (a common theme in social deviance) that permeates the hate for and misery of people, in this case intersex people, in our society. This could be easily assessed by comparing groups of intersex individuals and their persecutors in American Society to those in Thailand. I believe that a comparative analysis of mental health and value questionnaires of these groups would yield astonishing insight to the root cause of gender stigmatization.

Works Cited

1,2 Fausto-Sterling, Anne. "The Five Sexes: Why Male and Female Are Not Enough." The Sciences March/April (1993): 20-25. Print

3 Middle Sexes: Redefining He and She. Dir. Antony Thomas. Deep Stealth Productions, 2005. DVD