The traditional biological understandings of sex and...

The traditional biological understandings of sex and gender create a binary concept mainly in the Western culture by having two strictly fixed options of male or female. This binary notion of gender and sex was put to the test by both Anne Fausto-Sterling and Oyeronke Oyewumi. Sterling argues that rather than just two separate ends, biological gender occurs across a continuum of possibilities. This spectrum of anatomical deviation by itself should be enough to disregard the simplistic notion of only two genders. Oyewumi acknowledges that there is a binary in a Western culture, but does not agree that this idea is universal. She goes on to say that biological determinism in the west is the conception that biology provides the†¦show more content†¦(Sterling 1993:21) Fausto-Sterling further critiques the biological understandings of gender/sex by believing that sex is socially constructed because nature does not decide on who is seen as a male or female physically. Rathe r, doctors decide for the children what will be deemed as normal heterosexual males or females, (Sterling 1993: 22) by the inhabitants of society. Oyewumi attributes the biological understandings of difference to the primacy of vision in Western intellectual history in The Invention of Women. Using the visual facilitates with emphasis on appearance and visible markers to show difference. Oyewumi concludes that the entire western belief bases its categories and hierarchies on visual modes and binary distinctions. She claims that while this twofold view is prevalent in Western society, it is not universal. Oyewumi looks if biological determinism provides the rationale for organizing the social world, (Oyewumi 2006: 540) in the Yoruba culture to support her thesis that it is not universal. Her study shows that the in no situation was a male, by virtue of his body-type, inherently superior to a female. (Oyewumi 2006: 541) Instead, the Yoruba society was hierarchically organized, from slaves to rulers. (Oyewumi 2006: 541) Oyewumi goes on to say thatShow MoreRelatedEssay Transgender Students and the Learning Process3965 Words   |  16 Pageshomogenous products. The important thing is not to let yourself prejudge individuals or acts of people because this creates an assumption that brings a stigma against the individual. Transgender people face the difficult challenge of being accepted into society because they either do not fit a traditional gender assignment to their sex, or they are not willing to specify a particular gender recognized by society. The court case that I will use to explore transgender identity is Doe v. Yunits. The caseRead MoreLgbt19540 Words   |  79 PagesWhat Is LGBT? LGBT stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender and along with heterosexual they describe peoples sexual orientation or gender identity. These terms are explained in more detail here. 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