The Sight of Men

I think it is time to acknowledge culture as I have decided to use the term. There is hardly one explanation of the term culture, due to the large scope of different cultures around the world. In fact, as we distinguished in Introduction to Cultural Anthropology at the beginning of the course, culture is a long and varied list of beliefs, norms, social constructs, practices, traditions, music, dance, family roles, heritage, education, world view, etc. We could look to David Schneider who said that "culture is a stage" with a stage setting, a cast of characters, power differentials, and norms (or stage directions). Or we could look to Clifford Giertz who said that "man is an animal suspended in the webs of significance that he himself has spun" (culture being the web of significance). While both of these definitions certainly describe culture, I have decided to explore this topic on my own, in the context of my cultural-encounter topic: transsexuals and transgendered individuals (Delaney, 2004: 14-15).

The most fitting definition of culture that I could come up with is "a set of ideas, beliefs, and/or conscious or unconscious societal rules and norms that envelope all those activities that we may be able to distinguish from other groups." Yes, I know. You will first say that this definition is too broad to lay a hand on, but first let me remind you that culture is too convoluted a theory for most to comprehend. In fact, anthropologists have been arguing for years as to whether or not the discipline should use this term to describe such a phenomenon. For my purposes, culture is being used to describe the sex change experience, and will therefore encompass quite a lot of new ideas to add to the concept of culture (Delaney, 2004: 11)).

Richard von Krafft-Ebing (1840-1902), a German physician and neurologist, studied a patient (as part of his study Psychopathia Sexualis), who felt "'like a woman in a man's form,'" and who suffered from a number of ailments throughout his life, including grout, influenza, neurasthenia, and a stroke of paralysis. Psychopathia Sexualis was a "collection of 237 case studies in sexual pathology," which influenced Freud (a student of Krafft-Ebing's) in his work at a later time. Krafft-Ebing gathered the following information (note - this is before sex change operation revolutionized the medical field) (Ames, 2005: 1-21):

Since complete effemination (men taking on the characteristics of women), the principal changes I have observed in myself are:

1. The constant feeling of being a woman from top to toe.
2. The constant feeling of having female genitals.
3. The periodicity of the monthly molimina (symptoms a woman may experience before a period).
4. The regular occurrence of female desire, though not directed to any particular man.
5. The passive female feeling of coitus (sexual intercourse).
6. After that, the feeling of impregnation.
7. The female feeling in thought of coitus.
8. At the sight of women, the feeling of being of their kind, and the feminine interest in them.
9. At the sight of men, the feminine interest in them.
10. At the sight of children, the same feeling.
11. The changed disposition and much greater patience.
12. The final resignation to my fate, for which I have nothing to thank but positive religion; without it I should have long ago committed suicide.
(Ames, 2005: 1-21)

Please keep in mind that this patient suffered from a great number of health issues, some of which may have been the cause of one or a number of the previously mentioned feelings (molimina or the feeling of impregnation). However, the reader cannot deny that many or all of these feelings relate to the gender specific, the female, and those changes from male to female. Some of these, in fact, accompany the experience of culture "shock" or change: the relating to the "other" ("being of their kind"), the interest in the "other," a changed disposition in a different cultural setting, and a mention of religion. In my opinion, the feeling of culture "shock" is significant of very few experiences, which makes it all the more fitting in this instance, and it may be looked at as a new cultural encounter for the individual. This may not be a very conventional way to look at the sex change experience, but by drawing these similarities, the reader may be able to relate by experience, as if he or she were in his or her "shoes," if you will. Only by similar experiences, can we begin to understand those around us.

~ Katherine Niemczyk

Sources -
Ames, Jonathan ed.
2005, Sexual Metamorphosis: An Anthology of Transsexual Memoirs. New York, New York: Vintage Books.

Delaney, Carol
2004, Investigating Culture: An Experiential Introduction to Anthropology. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing.