Nick
Catalano is a TV writer/producer and Professor of Literature
and Music at Pace University. He reviews books and music for
several journals and is the author of Clifford
Brown: The Life and Art of the Legendary Jazz Trumpeter,
New York
Nights: Performing, Producing and Writing in Gotham
and A
New Yorker at Sea. His latest book, Tales
of a Hamptons Sailor, is now available. For Nick's
reviews, visit his website: www.nickcatalano.net
Darwin's
evolution, Freud's psychology, and Einstein's relativity have
all become fundamental concepts in modern science, but if you
ask the person on the street to explain any of them (especially
the latter) you will most often get blank stares. Throughout
human history, when unimaginable scientific revolution occurs,
most people firmly resist the change. Even though Copernicus
put the final nail in the coffin of Ptolemy's heliocentric theory
in the 1543, John Milton, writing Paradise Lost a century
later, could not quite accept Copernicus and reverted to Ptolemy
in his construction of eternity. We know that presently there
are hundreds of societies and organizations dedicated to abolishing
Darwin's discoveries even though no aspect of biology makes
any sense without them. And as for Einstein's relativity, outside
of physics circles this astounding revolution is incomprehensible
to most, much less accepted as verifiable space physics.
All
of this laggard acceptance of scientific truth has caused many
problems in recent human history but we are now faced with a
new development which may overshadow all of the aforementioned
ones in societal acceptance - gender revolution.
As
far back as ancient Sparta we can observe erotic bonds among
soldiers who also practiced heterosexual family life when peace
arrived. From childhood Alexander's greatest love was Hephaestion
even
though he married Roxanne and became a father. This common bisexuality
continued without any societal rejection in the classical world
to the end of the Roman Empire. But with the advent of the Dark
Ages this socially accepted phenomenon went underground, was
condemned and buried in the religious laws of both Christianity
and Islam.
The
rise of gender questioning has developed slowly through intervening
centuries but, perhaps because of the arrival of Internet social
media, issues, discussions and proclamations have come forth
which would have been unimaginable only a couple of decades
ago. Facebook, with its more than one billion users, has recorded
some 50 gender classifications (agender, cisgender, transgender,
genderfluid, LGBTQ, non-binary, transsexual, androgynous, are
just a few). One recent survey found that nearly a third of
young Americans identified themselves somewhere between 100%
heterosexual and 100% homosexual.
Historically,
science has determined that gender is an amalgamation of several
factors: chromosomes, anatomy, hormones, psychology and culture.
In recent years, people with the chromosomes and genital anatomy
of one sex sometimes claim a transgender identity because they
have a psycho-cultural identification with the opposite sex,
occasionally with neither sex, or maybe with no sex.
In
the past decade there has been a plethora of studies, surveys
and conferences on gender identity. Much of the discussion has
evolved around young people. Many are laying claim to a wide
variety of sexual identities and the big question is do these
gender varieties reflect accurate phenomena which have always
existed in human nature or do many of these claims reflect teenage
sexual experimentation? The answer, based on the amalgamation
of causes noted above, may be that both factors are involved.
The
concept of gender fluidity is alien and even abhorrent to most
societies. In some countries (Argentina, Norway, Denmark and
10 others) gender change is legal with no restrictions and simply
based on the request of the individual. In 41 others (Brazil,
China, and most of Europe, USA, Canada, Australia) gender change
is legal but subject to medical requirements. In 27 countries
(Russia, South Africa, Chile) gender change is possible but
inconsistently allowed. And in 67 countries (Islam, Southeast
Asia) change is not legally possible. In some of these countries
wearing clothing not sexually assigned at birth is a criminal
offense. And in many Central African countries even discussion
of gender change is taboo. The thought of just how long it will
take for acceptance of gender relativity in these areas is sobering.
In
some of the latter countries, assigned birth gender (only boys
and girls) is underscored by rituals traceable to Neolithic
times. The rigidity of young male rearing and behaviour noted
above in ancient Sparta is ever present in contemporary Africa.
The Bukusu tribe in Kenya binds young boys for life beginning
with circumcision songs and marches in puberty. The participants
will remain intimate throughout their lives and will one day
bear each other's coffins and dig each other's graves. After
the early rituals young Bukusu boys are commandeered by their
fathers and removed from mothers and grandmothers. A young tribesman
will be exempt from household chores, live in his own hut, and
be reared according to his father's values and behaviour. Circumcision
rituals everywhere replicate this overwhelming emphasis on male
sexuality and subsequent lifelong male family dominance.
The
fate of women in the worlds of male exclusivity continues to
be grim and often hopeless. Suicide is the leading cause of
death in girls 10 to 19 globally. One hundred and twenty million
girls around the globe have experienced sexual violence and
some 200 million girls and women have endured genital mutilation.
Sierra Leone is one of the worst places in the world to be a
girl. Bondo is a ritual which traditionally includes the cutting
or removal of external genitalia tying the girls to the male
dominated tribes and readying them for marriage. This female
genital mutilation (FGM) means that simply being
born a girl results in a lifetime of deprivation and insurmountable
barriers. The FGM is also practiced widely in Indonesia is culturally,
socially and religiously very different from African tribes.
But there half of the girls under 12 have undergone the procedure.
So
many societies are organized around the principle that biology
is destiny. But the development of gender fluidity is being
accepted in advanced nations around the world. When societies
accept that gender identity exists along a spectrum and is not
relegated to rigid male/ female categorization bluer skies appear
on the horizon. The trapped and oppressed fate of women can
be altered and the culturally defined roles which also oppress
men can be changed. Heady ideals can be imagined for a world
in which gender does not define a person any more than race
or ethnicity does. Without the weight of gendered expectations
humans may achieve greater goals and realize richer existences.
These
last thoughts represent an ideality which will not be realized
soon. If the discoveries of Darwin, Freud and Einstein continue
to meet resistance in the minds of skeptics the world over,
the general acceptance of multiple gender identities has a bleak
future.
I have
some personal thoughts here. I have fathered three daughters
dutifully raised with the firm notion that gender must not hinder
goals and dreams. They have grown to be extremely successful
and independent women. But when there are family gatherings
I find that often I am frustrated by their perspectives on a
variety of subjects from personal habits to social practices.
I sometimes retreat into a male cocoon molded from a Latin heritage
with unquestioned masculine dominance. Often, I feel that the
ladies simply do not understand my notions and wonder if my
very individuality and personality will evaporate. However reluctantly,
when the emotional resentment has subsided, I remain steadfast
in the convictions I have articulated in this essay. Still,
I wonder how long it will take for an age old male anthropology
to accept the enormous consequences of the gender revolution.
