Reflection of Fausto-Sterling’s “Two Sexes Are Not Enough”

Reflection of Fausto-Sterling’s “Two Sexes Are Not Enough” The article, “Two Sexes Are Not Enough” by Fausto-Sterling, makes us question the way in which we choose to classify human beings. The title of this article alone raises several questions to the surface such as, “how many sexes are enough for what?” and, “why are two sexes not enough in the first place”? Ultimately, Fausto-Sterling argues for an increased number of sexes and calls for a distinction between sex and gender (Fausto-Sterling). This distinction is important because within society we often easily mistake the two or interchange their definitions. In class, we discussed that her reason behind her argument looks at “power of discourse to falsely classify humans”. Later in her argument, Fausto-Sterling also touches upon the representation of one of the argued new sexes within the community, this being the intersex community. With this the call for distinction and gender comes into play by the discussion of sexuality, gender, and anatomy as separate and different things. Though as a society we have recently been exposed to this new sex through the media, many people still fail to believe or recognize the idea that a man or woman could be born into the wrong body. This can occur through bodies being surgically altered through surgery at birth. Fausto-Sterling makes her opinion clear on this, strongly advocating against it. This article struck me the most throughout everything we have read recently, and I think that this is because I had only just been introduced to a new friend named Jess. Over a recent road trip, my friends and I were headed to Los Angeles, California for the weekend to attend a concert festival. While there we met several friendly people, including a transgender guy named Jess. Jess, birth name James, was immediately open about his transgender lifestyle. At first I couldn’t tell as to whether or not his openness was due to the sheer fact that he felt he needed to address it because it was so obvious or because he took so much pride in himself and was comfortable with it. Although it struck me by surprise at first to see a guy who looked like a girl and was dressed as one, it quickly became unnoticeable as I began to get to know her more. It was clear to me that Jess was in fact a girl, just like me, only she didn’t exactly have all the same body parts. This made me have a deeper understanding for the stress Fausto-Sterling put on the importance of the distinction between sex and gender and how anatomy and gender and sexuality are all completely separate of each other.
Work Cited
Fausto-Sterling, Anne. "Two Sexes Are Not Enough." NOVA Online. PBS: Public Broadcasting Service, Oct. 2001. Web. 04 Nov. 2010. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/gender/fs.html>.

Cited: Fausto-Sterling, Anne. "Two Sexes Are Not Enough." NOVA Online. PBS: Public Broadcasting Service, Oct. 2001. Web. 04 Nov. 2010. &lt;http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/gender/fs.html&gt;.