Biopsychosocial Impact of Being Intersex - Research Paper Example

? Biopsychosocial Impact of Being Intersex Introduction Hermaphrodite is a rare condition that involves a person having both male and female sexual organs. The issue of being intersex has been a topic of great controversy in recent times. Due to the sensitivity of the issue only few who might be suffering from this condition are ready to open up due to stigmatization. Suffice to say, the exact causes of this condition are not known despite advances in the medical field. However, the role of genetics in the spread of the disease is of critical importance. The condition may be present as a recessive gene in a person and its chances of being passed on to his/her child is one out of four if he/she marries a person with similar recessive genes. This genetic implications of recessive genes means that due diligence should be exercised and a person should undergo genetic screening to gauge the level of risk that his/her children might fall into. Imperatively, in the book Middlesex by Jeffrey Euginides, the character Cal blames her hermaphroditic condition on mutation of the fifth chromosome. She believes that her condition was caused due to genetic conditions in her family tree. She was born with an XY karyota which caused her to have hermophroditism. The genetic mutation that causes hermaphroditic condition resides in the DNA and is passed on to other generation as coded genes. In fact, Cal narrates that “Sing now, O muse, of the recessive mutation on my fifth chromosome” in reference to the genetic mutation that resulted in her condition. The recessive genes that caused the hermaphroditic condition were passed from down from previous generation. Although recessive genes are not harmful, they pose a danger if combined with similar recessive genes. The biological impact of recessive genes is that they are dependent on reproduction and the subsequent children from a parent that has the recessive genes are more likely to be carriers of the genes or worse suffer from the disease. Incestuous Aspects of Family History The incestuous nature of the family tree of Cal has been significantly highlighted in the book Middlesex. The grandparents of Cal, Desdemonia and Lefty, were actually brother and sister. According to the story, Lefty had reached the marrying age and he was searching for a mate. However, he ends rejecting all of them as unsuitable for marriage. Desdemonia and Lefty had always been close since childhood but their relationship changed when they consummated. Cal says that her grandfather married at twenty one years of age. In their village, on Mount Olympus, everyone was somehow related. Incest was not allowed according to the Greek costumes. Therefore, the relationship between Desdemonia and Lefty was against the powerful taboo and according to Greek mythology; someone had to pay for that transgression. Cal was born out of an incestuous relationship. Desdemonia and Lefty bore two children from their marriage, Milton and Tessie. Although they know that they are siblings, Milton and Tessie nevertheless make love and bear two children; Cal and Chapter Eleven. The potent danger of their incestuous relationship is not lost on them as Tessie attempts to cleanse her family tree by casting out the curse in her family. The seclusion of siblings led to the development of passionate feelings for each other which led to the incestuous relationships. In a way, the story in Middlesex tends to allude that Cal became a hermaphrodite due to the curse of breaking a taboo on incestuous relationships. Incest is a shameful act in most societies and it is considered a social taboo. The story in Middlesex implies that incest and intersex are related. This is potentially inappropriate considering that the society already despises incestuous relationships. Cal reflects that perhaps her condition is as a result of the ill advised relationships in her family line. . The society has never accepted incest has it goes against the fabric of the society. Intersex is loathed in the society of Greeks. Cal is related with the tragic Greek mythological characters, such as Hermaphroditus. Hermaphroditus is a character in the Greek history who suffered a fateful death due to breaking taboos. Therefore, the association of Cal with the monstrous characters serves to portray the fact that incest has serious repercussions. There are several examples in the book that analyze past incest relations in the history of Greek that did not suffer from serious consequences. It should be noted that the society does not condone incest. In the context of the Desdemonia and Lefty, the impending tragedy of their union is imminent right from the onset. Desdemonia is afraid that their child will be deformed due to their intermarriage. Cal states that even though her grandparents migrated from their home country to America, it was still possible for the curse to follow them. When Milton and Tessie were pregnant with Cal, Desdemonia tried to break the impending curse on the unborn child by performing a ritual. Desdemonia predicted that the child would be a boy but this only turned to be half true. Cultural Implications The cultural implications of being hermaphrodite were immense on Cal. Ambiguity in sexuality is an issue that cultures do not accept. The critical issue here is that the society did not make any allowance for intersex. In fact, hermaphrodites were considered to be deformed human beings who were under a curse. Cal was raised as a girl right from her birth. Although Cal had male genes, she grew as a girl. In one instance, her mother gave her a doll to play with and she nurses it with a bottle of milk. In a sense, this shows that gender identity is fully dependent on the environment. It has been argued that it is the parents and the environment that determines the gender that one identifies with in life. Cal does well in school learning with other girls in a normal way. The society has predefined roles for different genders. Cal writes that “he began to exude some kind of masculinity”. The ways that he handled stuff such as the eraser was more inclined towards the masculine gender. Cal also alludes to the fact the he was turned on by the beheading and bloody scenes in movies unlike the female counterparts she he was with. It is clear that the male genes in her played a role of ensuring that Cal had some potent characteristics of masculine nature. Yet, despite this, she still grew normally as a girl since this was the cultural canvas in which she was raised. The essentialist ideology of identity is at play in the case of Cal. What she believes to be is not based on her biological features but rather on circumstantial factors. Cal is raised like any girl would be raised and thus she accepts this without any doubt. However, it is paradoxical when Cal shifts to accept the masculine gender instead of the female gender in which he had been raised. When she realized that she would have been brought up as a boy, Cal renounces the female gender and makes the male gender his preference. The determination of sex is contentious issue in the society depicted in the book. The big question therefore is what sex should be assigned to people who have both the female and male genitalia. It is difficult to ascribe a universal way of assigning sex to a person. According to the story of Cal, sex of a person is determined by their sexual preferences. Therefore, a person is male if their sexual desires are inclined towards females and vice versa. This methodology implies that gay people and lesbians are not accounted for in the classification. Cal believes that she was attracted to females than to males and therefore it was culturally appropriate for her to identify with the male gender. Cal easily portrays the attraction towards Julie. However it was difficult for Cal to show affection to the Obscure Object. Imperatively, the society was more accommodating of her relationship with a female than the relationship with the Obscure Object. This shows that prevailing culture plays a determinant role in shaping the kind of gender that a person chooses to be. In the case of Cal, the ease of relating with Julie implied that the society accepted him as a male and hence he was able to transform from a female gender to a male gender. It should be noted that Cal had problems in forming heterosexual relationships in his later life. This is because Cal failed to reconcile his sexual ambiguity to the real life scenarios. Cal spends a lot of time pondering on the possible outcomes of his pursuit of Julie. He wonders whether Julie would be able to accept him as he was: heterosexual. The culture does not embrace the Hermaphrodites in the society. Potentially, this has an impact on their self confidence to help them create lasting heterosexual relationships. The use of the name hermaphrodites is also a pointer towards the notion that the Greek Society had on intersex issues. According to Greek mythology, Hermophroditus was a young man who was chased by a young girl named Salmacis. The girl begs the gods to bind her with her object of desire and the gods answer her prayer in a literal manner. This meant that Hermophroditus instantly had two sex organs hence the origin of the term hermaphrodites. In the Greek mythology, the young man was angered by the transformation and cursed the grounds where it occurred. This means that hermaphrodite is a despised state and the society does not appreciate them. The life of the hermaphrodite is cursed and essentially consists of disempowerment. The issue of dual existence robs a person of the confidence to face life. Cal states that it became difficult to identify what he was and this can be termed as an identity crisis. Tragically, it is difficult to point out which sex is stronger when you have both the female and male genitalia. The theoretical assumption is that the state of being intersex is a perfect blend of both male and female characteristics. However, as noted in the case of Cal, the sexes are never equal and it is difficult to decide which sex is dominant. Sometimes, intersex people sway between the sexes depending on circumstances. Cal is associated with the negative form of hermaphrodite conception. She is made to play the role of Hermophroditus during a school play just before she discovered her true nature. Also, she finds herself in middle of conflicting interests of both sexes. She confides that she was able to see through the male tricks and wondered whether she did so due to her unique characteristics or it was a general capability of all females. She confides that she was able to see through the male tricks and wondered whether she did so due to her unique characteristics or it was a general capability of all females. The character Cal is also challenged on the way the society embraces the issue of being intersex. Even her parents believe that being intersex is literally a curse and therefore a reject in the society. It became difficult for her to disclose her nature to everybody since it was a show of weakness in her part. She believes that she was under no obligation to share with people her nature. But the truth behind this assertion is that she feared being stigmatized by the society and the community. The debate about nature and nurture also posed generated a lot of interest from Cal. She wrote that if an experiment was to be conducted to compare the relative influence of nature and nurture, then a great discovery to aid mankind may be made. The potent issue is how much influence nature has on the development of a person. In the case of Cal, it is evident that nurturing played a role in the kind of choices that she made concerning her sexuality. She was brought up as a girl and despite the presence of male genes; she grew accepting the female gender. However, as Cal grew, her choices became inclined towards the male gender. Due to the genetic coding, Cal began having interests towards females and making choices inclined towards the male gender. This shows that nature played a role in shaping his desires and interests. Therefore, the question is which of the two the most important factor in determining sexual orientation is. From the story, the choices that Cal made were determined by both nature and nurturing. Her female gender was brought about the kind of upbringing that she got. The parents treated as a girl and hence she behaved as a girl. However, the choices that Cal made in life were based on nature. The sexual desires that Cal exhibited were predetermined by the genetic coding that was engrained in his DNA. Impact of the Community and Organizations From the story of Cal, it is evident that institutions played a critical role in shaping the choices that she made in life. Institutions and organizations play an important role since they define the existence of a person. This is true considering the fact that most people spend the first portion of their life in schools. Later, most of the adult life is spent in the workplace. Hence, the role that institutions play in shaping choices in life cannot be understated,. In the case of Cal, one of the institutions that shaped her life is school. Cal was taken to a girls’ school and hence she was put in an environment that defined her gender as female. In the school, she behaved like in any other girl of age. It should be noted that at this stage, the male genitalia had not grown had hence she could physically pass as boy. At school, Cal was molded to behave and function like a girl. Cal blended in well since she remembers making friends and enjoying playing with other girls. This shows that at her formative stages, the female gender was fully established in her being. According to research, the gender roles are mostly defined at a young age. Scientists believe that nurturing plays a big role in defining the gender identity of a person. It should be noted that a person easily takes the roles that their parents define for them at early stages of their life. The family institution also played a role in shaping the life and choices of the Cal. Her parents raised her as a girl right from birth. Cal remembers being given a doll to play with and she feeds the doll with milk. It is accepted that female children are given dolls to play with in order to nurture their nursing nature. Therefore, by the fact that she was able to enjoy playing with the doll, it means that the gender role of a female was fully established in her. The parents provided her with an environment that served to invigorate the female gender. She was given female clothes and this helped to shape her orientation towards the feminine gender. However, Cal’s adult life was remarkably different. Cal discovered that she was intersex and this had a profound effect on her life. One particularly chilling revelation was when she went to investigate the meaning of the word “hermaphrodite” in the New York Library. She read that the word was related to other words such as monster. This revelation had a major impact on her life as she was scared of the eventualities in life. In her adult life, the workplace had an impact on how Cal interacted with the world. Cal accepted the masculine gender and he got a job where she worked as a male. It is important to note that at this stage, the other coworkers had no idea of her condition and they treated him as any normal male. In this way, Cal had to live in some sort of denial of her past and present circumstances. She confides that she was able to see through the male tricks and wondered whether she did so due to her unique characteristics or it was a general capability of all females. The nature of the society at adult level made her not reveal the past. The important thing was to blend in and wear a mask exhibiting the desired behavior. However, as Cal grew, her choices became inclined towards the male gender. Due to the genetic coding, Cal began having interests towards females and making choices inclined towards the male gender. The debate about nature and nurture also posed generated a lot of interest from Cal. She wrote that if an experiment was to be conducted to compare the relative influence of nature and nurture, then a great discovery to aid mankind may be made. The potent issue is how much influence nature has on the development of a person. This shows that nature played a role in shaping his desires and interests. Therefore, the question is which of the two the most important factor in determining sexual orientation is. At the workplace, Cal carried on normally as a man and nobody was none-the-wiser. Conclusion Being intersex comes with a lot of challenges. It is difficult to accept the duality of existence and this can lead to identity crisis. The intersex persons may have great difficulty in accepting themselves due to their sexual ambiguity. In the case of Cal, the story was more complicated due to the fact that the family history was marred by issues of incest. Hence, the society thought of her condition as a punishment for breaking a taboo. The psychological challenges of being hermaphrodite are immense. Cal grew up as a girl only to realize at fourteen that she had male sexual organs. It was difficult for her to reconcile her dual existence. Despite the feminine upbringing, she chooses the masculine gender since it resonated well with the natural desires he had. Cal refused a surgery to change her to be a female since it was not her choice. It is evident that Cal is at peace with her condition despite the fact that the society was not very accommodating. References Bloomer, K. (2000). Cultural impacts on social development. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. Craig, A. (1998). Social implications of incest. Trans. Michael Mitchell. Riverside, CA: Ariadne. Devas, N., & Rakodi, C. (1993). Intersex: The big debate. Harlow: Longman. El-Masri, S. (2005). Biopyschosocial: The past, present and future. New York: Pearson. Girardet, H. 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