Referring back to my first posting, I have learned a great deal this semester on the process of the gender switch. My research (methodology) primarily involved literature written by transsexuals or social scientists, analysis of "Southern Comfort" (2001), examining case studies (such as Aleshia Brevard) online, and I had the fortunate opportunity of speaking with a transsexual individual, Gavi, who visited Wheaton and presented the attending audience with some interesting perspectives on sexual orientations and gender. I believe that it is extremely important to expose oneself to other cultures, communities, and types of people, and this encounter, for me, was very helpful in understanding exactly how a transsexual or transgendered person feels in a society that really has no acceptance nor tolerance of their differences. Truthfully, we are all different, and rediscovering this social fact has enabled me to see clearly how sexual orientation and gender identity differ from person to person and really are not black and white. For instance, I believe that there is a little bit of man and woman and heterosexual identity and homosexual identity in all of us; it just depends how much we identify with each aspect. I have become more open-minded and trusting of myself and I have discovered a whole aspect of the human condition that is so wrongly ignored.
Reflecting on our class, I specifically found the sections on "Inequality" and "Gender and the Body" helpful in putting my own study in context of the Anthropological field. Sexuality in different cultures is viewed very different; for instance, homosexuality is a common and accepted occurrence in other cultures, and this is hard to imagine coming from such a strict, conservative country. Learning about how humans express themselves through sex proves what many students already know; that, like every individual person, every individual culture differs and shapes what is and what is not acceptable to such an extent that our natural inclinations are suppressed. This study highlighted the different relationships between the physical characteristics of the human body and the natural gender and sexual identities. Understanding this and how our culture denies these different relationships has enabled me to view culture from a very unique position. Although I am uncertain if the gender switch can really be referred to as a cross-cultural encounter, I am sure that there are important similarities that can be drawn between the two to help people comprehend the feeling that a transsexual or transgendered person may not otherwise be able to explain. In essence, the "trans" body works almost like a new "culture," and in the process of changing their bodies, transsexuals and transgendered people experience a sort of cross-cultural encounter by discovering new social relationships that result out of their new look. Perhaps this is simply a better or easier way to look at the transsexual experience from an American perspective.
I wanted to note that although there are many similarities we can draw on between the gender switch and cross-cultural encounters, I must play devil's advocate and argue that there are certainly differences as well. The transsexual and transgendered community exists on a sub-cultural level in Amerian society (that is, the examples I have examined were American examples); therefore, we are not looking at the typical cross-cultural encounter. Many readers may have expected a different language, a unique way of dress, or new foods to emerge out of my cross-cultural encounter (and perhaps many bloggers from our class had these experiences), but I decided to go about this assignment in a very unusual way. I found that there were surprises among the transsexual/transgender community that occurred at the time of the gender switch about some of the social norms that non-transsexuals are unaware of because we are cultured at such an early age. Transsexuals and transgendered people are actually lucky (in my own opinion) to experience the physical characteristics and hormones of two genders in one lifetime: I imagine that many of us (the general population) has at one time or another wondered about the experiences of the opposite sex and this is truly brought to life in the circumstance of the transsexual experience.
Lastly, I would like to shed light on why this study may be of interest to other anthropologists (as in, why should they care?) and perhaps briefly explain my own expectations of how transsexuals and transgendered people may react to my blog. Anthropologists (specifically those who study sexual habits, gender identity, or identity in general) would be interested in this study because sex and gender are two very important aspects of the individual and the community. Many people shape their lives around their gender or sexual orientation, and especially in America, where our judgments of others are so conservative, these issues are of interest to social scientists because they are so suppressed. In addition to this, I hope that I have accurately depicted the sex change in a way that is clear to the transsexual community and the community of people that have not undergone this transformation. Perhaps this will be understandable to both perspectives, and I would hope that reactions would be positive or constructively critical. It is very difficult for me to assume that all individuals would react in a similar manner, but at least my interaction with Gavi was successful in that when I explained my project, he seemed very interested in looking at the sex change experience in this manner. By identifying the sex change as something similar to what many people are familiar with (cross-cultural encounters), examining the switch from man culture to woman culture will, perhaps, be better understood in this way. As I mentioned in a previous entry, the use of the terms "man culture" and "woman culture" was suggested by Gavi, in contrast to "male culture" and "female culture" which suggests more specifically the physical characteristics of an individual.
In conclusion, I have enjoyed comparing and contrasting the sex change and cross-cultural encounters, and in doing this, experienced another community (referring to the transsexual community as "culture" is still debatable). From researching Aleshia Brevard to my conversations with Gavi, I have a new respect for people identifying with the transsexual or transgendered communities. The story of Robert Eads, in "Southern Comfort" (2001), has not lost its impact on me and I have found, just like Lola suggested at the end of the film, that nature truly does "delight in diversity," and her words make me wonder how we can possibly overlook that.
Thank you for taking the time to read.
~ Katherine Niemczyk
Friday, December 7, 2007
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
The Many Layers of Identity
After thinking about how my blog will be coming to a close in the next few days, I wanted to find a last comparison between culture and the gender switch before I move on to the differences between cross-cultural encounters and the sex change and to my conclusion, in which I will discuss how anthropologists may find this informtion useful and how I believe transsexuals and transgendered peoples will possibly react to my blog. Therefore, I spent some time reading from Nobody Passes: Rejecting the Rules of Gender and Conformity, edited by Matt Berstein Sycamore a.k.a. Mattilda (mentioned in the previous blog). "Conformity," a term used in the title, references the tendency of Americans to desire similarities to their peers. Therefore, it is not surprising that our society favors unflexible identities; that is, there is little room for diversity. America has a history of struggling with diversity, from Suffrage to the Civil Rights movement. Fortunately, more and more "minorities" are establishing themselves on the national level: even gays and lesbians have achieved some recognition in the news in the past few years. Unfortunately, there is little discussion of transsexuals. Americans are in denial of the complex array of sexual identities that exist almost every form of life.
Of great interest to me in Sycamore's book was an essay written by Logan Gutierrez-Mock, "F2mestizo":
"I never would have guessed." That's the response I usually get when I tell people I'm biracial. I guess that's a reasonable answer to give a person with white skin privilege. But every time it cuts me. It erases my heritage, my experiences, everything I grew up with. When people use female pronouns with me it doesn't hurt like this. I get annoyed, frustrated, check what I did "wrong" in the mirror when I get home, but this discomfort doesn't separate me from my male identity. The people who read me as only white never ask me to prove that I'm trans. However, they constantly express their suspicions that I'm not actually biracial, and sometimes I feel like I need to carry pictures of my family in my wallet so that people will believe me. (Sycamore, 2006: 228-229)
As I have discussed in earlier blog entries, identity is complex. Most of us have layers of ethnicities, races, and sexualities that we identify with. These layers together make up an individual who must utilize these identities as s/he navigates through their own culture. Imagine the dilemmas that arise from a cross-cultural encounter. Imagine the confusion that comes with a sex change, relearning how to act with the introduction of new social relationships. I have made my point in my earlier blogs that these experiences are not unlike one another. Now that I have engaged you in your thought processes, I hope that you will begin to think through these different identities, compare them to your own, and separate cross-cultural encounters from the sex change experience to better understand them both.
~ Katherine Niemczyk
Sources -
Sycamore, Matt Bernstein a.k.a. Mattilda
2006, Nobody Passes: Rejecting the Rules of Gender and Conformity. Emeryville, CA: Seal Press.
Of great interest to me in Sycamore's book was an essay written by Logan Gutierrez-Mock, "F2mestizo":
"I never would have guessed." That's the response I usually get when I tell people I'm biracial. I guess that's a reasonable answer to give a person with white skin privilege. But every time it cuts me. It erases my heritage, my experiences, everything I grew up with. When people use female pronouns with me it doesn't hurt like this. I get annoyed, frustrated, check what I did "wrong" in the mirror when I get home, but this discomfort doesn't separate me from my male identity. The people who read me as only white never ask me to prove that I'm trans. However, they constantly express their suspicions that I'm not actually biracial, and sometimes I feel like I need to carry pictures of my family in my wallet so that people will believe me. (Sycamore, 2006: 228-229)
As I have discussed in earlier blog entries, identity is complex. Most of us have layers of ethnicities, races, and sexualities that we identify with. These layers together make up an individual who must utilize these identities as s/he navigates through their own culture. Imagine the dilemmas that arise from a cross-cultural encounter. Imagine the confusion that comes with a sex change, relearning how to act with the introduction of new social relationships. I have made my point in my earlier blogs that these experiences are not unlike one another. Now that I have engaged you in your thought processes, I hope that you will begin to think through these different identities, compare them to your own, and separate cross-cultural encounters from the sex change experience to better understand them both.
~ Katherine Niemczyk
Sources -
Sycamore, Matt Bernstein a.k.a. Mattilda
2006, Nobody Passes: Rejecting the Rules of Gender and Conformity. Emeryville, CA: Seal Press.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
"I'm Me" Authenticity
In an effort to compare the close relationship between the cross-cultural experience and the gender switch, I decided to examine a collection of writings edited by Matt Bernstein Sycamore a.k.a. Mattilda, Nobody Passes: Rejecting the Rules of Gender and Conformity. This collection of essays focuses on the "intersections of identity, categorization, and community" and on the "notion of belonging." Stephanie Abraham, author of "No Longer Just American," describes her identity as an American with roots in Syria and Lebanon. While growing up, Stephanie paid little attention to the "assimilation" of American culture into her household. Her father absorbed American culture and his children "paid little attention" to their own assimilation. Once 9/11 occurred, Stephanie, like other Americans with Middle Eastern roots, found herself suddenly defined as an Arab-American, rather than simply an American. She began questioning her own identity and held on to what Arab she had left in her:
I spent years feeling ashamed that I did not look Arab enough, could not speak Arabic, and did not grow up immersed in "culture." I felt like my life did not resemble a real Arab's life, yet I keep reminding myself that I won't be more "authentic" after visiting our village because I already am authentic--in that "I'm me" sense. (Sycamore, 2006: 135)
Compare Stephanie's experience to the transsexual/transgender experience. There are many similarities: the questioning of one's identity, the acceptance of one's identity, the "I'm me" sense. In order to comfortably go through the process of a sex change, an individual has to acknowledge the "I'm me" authenticity of themselves (i.e. a male in a female's body, a female in a male's body). There is ashame because American culture leaves little room for grey. In fact, the "assimilation" that Stephanie speaks of is not unlike the socialization Americans experience at a very early age, a much earlier age than Stephanie's father. We learn the dos and don'ts of gender, and beyond "male" and "female," we learn little else of the many gender identities that actually exist. During this process, we are set up to struggle through puberty, questioning our own gender boundaries in our early years. While Stephanie rediscovered her Arab-ism, as young adults we all rediscover our true sexual identities: we go from only knowing the black and white of gender, to learning for ourselves how many sexual identities we have to choose from.
I hope that the relationship between culture differences and the gender change is beginning to be clear. By introducing the case study (above), I wanted to exemplify a cross-cultural experience and shed light on the transsexual/transgender experience. I have also learned from looking at Stephanie Abraham's own experiences that my identity works in similar ways. America has been deemed a "melting pot" of cultures from all over the world, and this metaphor is correct in many ways. Most of us trace our roots back to more than one country and rarely choose to identify as "American" when we discuss our identities with other Americans. Rather, we choose to identify with our roots (for example, I often identify as a Pole and German). Therefore, I learned from Stephanie's story that cross-cultural encounters can occur within us, and more often than not, they occur in the transsexual/transgender community in the form of sexual reassignment.
~ Katherine Niemczyk
Sources -
Sycamore, Matt Bernstein a.k.a. Mattilda, ed.
2006, Nobody Passes: Rejecting the Rules of Gender and Conformity. Emeryville, CA: Seal Press.
I spent years feeling ashamed that I did not look Arab enough, could not speak Arabic, and did not grow up immersed in "culture." I felt like my life did not resemble a real Arab's life, yet I keep reminding myself that I won't be more "authentic" after visiting our village because I already am authentic--in that "I'm me" sense. (Sycamore, 2006: 135)
Compare Stephanie's experience to the transsexual/transgender experience. There are many similarities: the questioning of one's identity, the acceptance of one's identity, the "I'm me" sense. In order to comfortably go through the process of a sex change, an individual has to acknowledge the "I'm me" authenticity of themselves (i.e. a male in a female's body, a female in a male's body). There is ashame because American culture leaves little room for grey. In fact, the "assimilation" that Stephanie speaks of is not unlike the socialization Americans experience at a very early age, a much earlier age than Stephanie's father. We learn the dos and don'ts of gender, and beyond "male" and "female," we learn little else of the many gender identities that actually exist. During this process, we are set up to struggle through puberty, questioning our own gender boundaries in our early years. While Stephanie rediscovered her Arab-ism, as young adults we all rediscover our true sexual identities: we go from only knowing the black and white of gender, to learning for ourselves how many sexual identities we have to choose from.
I hope that the relationship between culture differences and the gender change is beginning to be clear. By introducing the case study (above), I wanted to exemplify a cross-cultural experience and shed light on the transsexual/transgender experience. I have also learned from looking at Stephanie Abraham's own experiences that my identity works in similar ways. America has been deemed a "melting pot" of cultures from all over the world, and this metaphor is correct in many ways. Most of us trace our roots back to more than one country and rarely choose to identify as "American" when we discuss our identities with other Americans. Rather, we choose to identify with our roots (for example, I often identify as a Pole and German). Therefore, I learned from Stephanie's story that cross-cultural encounters can occur within us, and more often than not, they occur in the transsexual/transgender community in the form of sexual reassignment.
~ Katherine Niemczyk
Sources -
Sycamore, Matt Bernstein a.k.a. Mattilda, ed.
2006, Nobody Passes: Rejecting the Rules of Gender and Conformity. Emeryville, CA: Seal Press.
The Grey Areas of Culture and Gender
Culture is a complex ideology and one that is never clearly defined. There are exceptions to the concrete concept of culture which play out with cross-cultural encounters. I have learned from my investigation into the experiences of transsexuals/transgenders that culture is a malleable notion, that it is hardly definable in the same way in every context. Just like gender, culture exists in many forms. In fact, I must acknowledge that many anthropologists would argue that my examination, the change from woman to man or vice versa, is not cultural. This may be true in some contexts, but I have found that the transsexual/transgender community is subject to a very unique self-defining experience that warps and molds the boundaries of understanding gender norms. There are no rules for defining what can be culture or a cross-cultural experience to what can't be culture or a cross-cultural experience. Therefore, my study is arguably adjacent to investigations into crossing borders and culture shock, what some may deem as true cross-cultural experiences.
Max Wolf Valerio, who I mentioned earlier in my last blog entry, not only acknowledges the excitement of becoming a man, but the tensions he experiences as he enters another sphere of gender identity:
Now that I'm a man, I find that an invisible coating of protection, a soothing, sweet barrier, has fallen from around me. I hadn't even been aware of its presence. Women ask me, sometimes with a resentful tone, "So are you more safe on the streets now?" It's not that simple. It's true, I no longer worry about sexual harassment on the streets, about intrusive ogling, or rape. That's a huge relief. I don't make light of it. However, there's another side to violence that women aren't exposed to. The competitive angst and edge of man-on-man violence. The pecking order, the daily drills of masculine testiness. I no longer have any slack cut for me; men threaten me with their fists if I give them the finger or tell them to fuck off and die; I have to watch where I am in relation to their boundaries with greater care. Bumping into the wrong guy at the wrong time can be a prelude to a confrontation. It's a drag. One I wasn't prepared for. Everything in my feminist background informed me that I would be safer as a man, more secure walking the streets, being in crowds, going about my life out in the world. So when I actually begin to experience more violence being out in the world, I'm startled. I've been mugged, punched in the face, and threatened on more than a few occasions. I've had to learn a new code of conduct, to decipher a fresh set of signals. I'm not complaining, but I can't say this is my favorite part of being a man. (Valerio, 2006: 272).
Social norms are called into question when one is faced with a newly defined set of values permiating from a newly experienced culture. Valerio successfully demonstrates the change in "conduct" which results out of the interactions with new people based on the new identity of his self. Like an American in any foreign country who is judged on a stereotypical basis and must struggle with new cultural organization, a transsexual/transgender is enveloped in changing values that must be dealt with in order to move forward. If we chose to ignore these new social relationships (whether during a sex change or a borders change), we would be stuck in limbo. We would get no where, and our relationships with other people would fail.
I never imagined that culture was so complex, that it has no concrete characteristics. Even aspects of culture differences, such as language, are arguably unstable; might two cultures exist in the same country and use the same language system? It is interesting to me that my study has led me to a union of concepts: across borders, culture is practically undefinable and gender has no set explanation. There is no black and white of gender, and culture will indefinitely be grey.
~ Katherine Niemczyk
Sources -
Valerio, Max Wolf.
2006, The Testosterone Files: My Hormonal and Social Transformation from Female to Male. Emeryville, CA: Seal Press.
Max Wolf Valerio, who I mentioned earlier in my last blog entry, not only acknowledges the excitement of becoming a man, but the tensions he experiences as he enters another sphere of gender identity:
Now that I'm a man, I find that an invisible coating of protection, a soothing, sweet barrier, has fallen from around me. I hadn't even been aware of its presence. Women ask me, sometimes with a resentful tone, "So are you more safe on the streets now?" It's not that simple. It's true, I no longer worry about sexual harassment on the streets, about intrusive ogling, or rape. That's a huge relief. I don't make light of it. However, there's another side to violence that women aren't exposed to. The competitive angst and edge of man-on-man violence. The pecking order, the daily drills of masculine testiness. I no longer have any slack cut for me; men threaten me with their fists if I give them the finger or tell them to fuck off and die; I have to watch where I am in relation to their boundaries with greater care. Bumping into the wrong guy at the wrong time can be a prelude to a confrontation. It's a drag. One I wasn't prepared for. Everything in my feminist background informed me that I would be safer as a man, more secure walking the streets, being in crowds, going about my life out in the world. So when I actually begin to experience more violence being out in the world, I'm startled. I've been mugged, punched in the face, and threatened on more than a few occasions. I've had to learn a new code of conduct, to decipher a fresh set of signals. I'm not complaining, but I can't say this is my favorite part of being a man. (Valerio, 2006: 272).
Social norms are called into question when one is faced with a newly defined set of values permiating from a newly experienced culture. Valerio successfully demonstrates the change in "conduct" which results out of the interactions with new people based on the new identity of his self. Like an American in any foreign country who is judged on a stereotypical basis and must struggle with new cultural organization, a transsexual/transgender is enveloped in changing values that must be dealt with in order to move forward. If we chose to ignore these new social relationships (whether during a sex change or a borders change), we would be stuck in limbo. We would get no where, and our relationships with other people would fail.
I never imagined that culture was so complex, that it has no concrete characteristics. Even aspects of culture differences, such as language, are arguably unstable; might two cultures exist in the same country and use the same language system? It is interesting to me that my study has led me to a union of concepts: across borders, culture is practically undefinable and gender has no set explanation. There is no black and white of gender, and culture will indefinitely be grey.
~ Katherine Niemczyk
Sources -
Valerio, Max Wolf.
2006, The Testosterone Files: My Hormonal and Social Transformation from Female to Male. Emeryville, CA: Seal Press.
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