The Gender Revolution

Did you know that all humans start life being female? Soon after in the womb we begin to be male or female, Boy or girl doesn’t necessarily exist anymore. Years ago if a person with a penis wanted to wear make-up and wanted to wear dresses he did it with a hairy body and a cigar in a comedy sketch like Milton Berle  did. But then singers like David Bowie and Boy George became famous who at times wore full female make-up and it was all ok, no comedy. Advances in the medical field and changes in public opinion are creating all new kinds of people. Should applications for anything still say male or female as a check off of identity? Today we don’t know what kind of genitalia people have in their pants. Many don’t know the terminology used for this new kind of sexual revolution. Human life is no longer simply male or female.

The Emmy awarded journalist Katie Couric is sharing a new documentary on gender identity that is worth watching that is informative on where society is on the issue of who we are and who we identify with. Now children who have penises are wearing dresses if they want to and are undergoing name changes and are already planning future medical services to change their gender that are widely available to all now. Years ago if a guy was effeminate he became a fashion designer or a hairdresser. There are no boundaries anymore. There is also a generational divide on this issue. We all need to know the new vocabulary to understand the issues and then there would not be so much fear out there. Fear is usually a result of ignorance. With knowing about things, it is helpful to understand and accept.

We need to know all the biology that is involved in gender. Sexual orientation is completely different from gender identification. In simple terms, gender is who you go to bed as; sexual orientation is who you go to bed with. We all start life as a girl. Men have nipples that are completely useless. In the first trimester of life in the womb gives the fetus a surge in testosterone that forms the gentiles. Depending on the amount of testosterone received, a clitoris becomes a penis and ovaries become testes. If things get interrupted a child can be born called intersex where the child has both female and male genitalia. They can have sex characteristics of both male and female. There is surgical intervention now for these babies of which there are one out of every 2,000 babies born with this type of body.    

These intersex children are unique but now activists are questioning if the surgical intervention is necessary to “normalize a baby’s appearance”. Should we be imposing a gender on these kids or should we wait to see what gender they identify with? However, people aren’t even simply a boy or girl now. A surge in testosterone can make a female feel like a male. The biology is so much more important than just what you are thinking who you are at this moment. There is a lot of support now with gender clinics available now. Parents love their children unconditionally and want to follow the instincts of their children. If a child with a penis wants to wear dresses, parents now are buying them a closet of dresses. They would rather have a child who is living openly and authentically than have the child with feelings of suicide because they are transgender or gender   non-conforming people.

Parents are heterosexual and now are open enough to do anything for their child to be happy and safe. There are more transgender people now than ever simply because we have become a more tolerant and accepting world.  We need to learn words like gender confirmation surgery for when the pronouns change from he to she or from she to he.  No one needs to feel trapped in the wrong body any longer. We are living in a world now where folks can live as who they are and not what they are.  Now the issue of what bathrooms people use is going to the Supreme Court since people are no longer simply male or female. The gender revolution is here to stay. We need to see folks as people regardless of their gender identification. The documentary airs February 6^th on the National Geographic Channel.