MORE THAN TWO TO TANGO
Until very recently it was quite acceptable (even in “gender circles”) to equate the difference between sex and gender, to that between nature and nurture, or nature and culture.
Biological inheritance, gender, and of course, sexual preference were deemed to be linked together in a nice neat chain. One would be born, obviously a male or obviously a female; be socialized to behave in a masculine or feminine way; and prefer having sex (primarily for reproductive purposes rather than recreation, of course) with the “opposite sex”….the other one of the only two available.
This ‘Noah’s Ark’ model is upheld by most of the world’s major religions though they may disagree on other issues. This model emphasizes the sanctity of the family and places priority on its continuity. There is usually assumed to be a context where this model is perfectly functional. It is considered, for example, that the social structure existing in biblical times presented the perfect conditions for this model to flourish.
Where the family is the basic economic unit; the economy is based on farming and herding; there is no particular population pressure on land; then more family members means a larger and more successful economic unit. In these circumstances it is easy to understand the importance given to woman’s reproductive role. In such a system reproductive activities tend to be not only highly valued but also highly regulated. And non-reproductive sex….. such as sex for recreational purposes & same-sex sex…. is seen as deviant and blasphemous.
The ongoing debate about homosexuality in the Anglican church demonstrates that this is till very much a live issue. So do we have only two of each: masculine males and feminine females, with everything different being deviant? Contemporary Western cultures are very comfortable in reducing complex reality to complementary opposing pairs…..good cop/bad cop, black/white, democrat/ republican, right/left, blue collar/white collar, upstairs/ downstairs, male/female. But this categorization into two sexes: two genders appears to be relatively recent even in Western society.
Whereas it seems self-evident to us that gender is a key principle of social organization most historians think that the two gender model appeared in its full blown form only during the Renaissance.
And other societies (traditional Omani, Native North American, Thai, and some Indian groups are normally cited) have always acknowledged that it might take more than ‘two to tango’, recognizing as a legitimate category rather than as deviant from the norm, hermaphrodites, transvestites, transgender or transsexuals or even simply people who actually choose to remain celibate. Interestingly enough Asexuality seems to be gaining ground as a preferred life-style in some Western sub- cultures.
In societies where the Two Sex/Two Gender model dominates, being ‘different’ also means being ‘unequal’. Gender is one of the key organizing principles like class, wealth, age, ethnicity, and religion. In most societies there is still a very real struggle to ensure that individuals at the female/feminine end of the spectrum should have the same voice, rights, & responsibilities as male members of that society. This applies to the most basic rights to education or health care, as well as the often more visible rights to political office, and other key decision-making positions in the public and private sector. In many societies women still have fewer rights than a man in terms of inheritance, access to justice, custody of children in case of divorce, rights to confer their nationality on spouse or children, or freedom of movement.
The last two decades have also witnessed the growing visibility of constituencies who do not sit comfortably at one of the polar positions. The acronym GLBT - Gay, Lesbian, Bi-Sexual, Transgender - neatly sums up the major alternatives to the two traditional options of male and female.
The practical implications of the emergence of the category or categories GLBT are still hotly debated in the societies where this has happened. Can same-sex couples marry, adopt children, and have access to in vitro fertilization (IVF) for themselves or a surrogate? How easy is it for a transgender person to have his/her legal records and documents adjusted to the new reality? What prejudices and disadvantages do they face in terms of other civil and political economic and social rights? These are just a few of the emerging issues.
We live in a world where technological advance has reduced the importance of absolute physical strength for most tasks; where contraception has changed the meaning of sexual activity ; where most of life’s tasks except conceiving and giving birth are in principle gender neutral, and yet we still see that new activities and skills….such as IT…. quickly become “engendered”.
But information emerging from numerous disciplines biology, genetics, medicine, sociology, anthropology, requires us to challenge the cherished belief that it only takes ‘two to tango’.