Sexuality & Gender Diversity in a Global Context

Sexuality & Gender Diversity in a Global Context • Definitons, • Heterosexuality • Homosexuality • Transsexuality • Human Rights • Intersex

General • Biological against Social Developmental models • (Nature vs. Nurture) • Lifestyle Choice or the way people are made • (Free Will vs. Determinism) • Global phenomenon • not “white man’s disease” • Cultural & Religious responses • Prohibition (Judaism, Islam, Christianity) • Tolerance (Xanith, Hijra/Kinnar) • Veneration (Zuni/Nadlee in N. America)

Sex & gender, men or women • Sex – biological, chromosomal XX / XY – male / female • Gender – cultural, socially constructed • Masculine / feminine

Definitions • Heterosexuality: • Attraction to the opposite sex • Homosexuals/Homosexuality: • Same-sex attraction • Transsexuals/Transsexuality: • People who have surgery to “change sex” • Gender Dysphoria • discomfort with assigned gender. • Transgender (definitions vary) • living in “opposite” gender-role without surgery

Definitions (cont.) • Androgynous: • People who identify as neither male or female • Intersex: • People born somewhere between the sexes • People with atypical chromosomes • People with hormonal anomalies • People with atypical genitalia

Diverse phenomena • Homosexuality • sexual orientation (gay or lesbian) • male/female identification • Transsexuality • gender-role and gender-identity • May identify as straight or gay • Intersex • Biological condition • Often identify as straight • May identify as gay or transsexual

Heterosexuality • Usually seen as ‘normal’ • This is problematic, as it implies other things as ‘abnormal’ • Dominant form of sexuality • Thus others are defined as being in a ‘subordinate’ position • Notions of normality and dominance lead to discrimination and injustice

Homosexuality • In Christian communities diverse responses across cultures globally: ‘Gay bishop confirmed in US as traditionalists are defied’ (Daily Telegraph 04/08/2003) ‘Anger at San Francisco's gay weddings spills over into court challenges’ (Guardian 17/02/04) ‘Pope Renews Attack on Gay Marriages’ (The Scotsman 31/07/03)

Politics • In the UK, individuals with strong profiles dominate public perception. Anne Widdecombe is seen as the Tory voice, and is opposed to same-sex partnerships, and their promotion, as alternatives to the heterosexual family. • Michael Howard: "I continue to believe that the conventional marriage and family is the best environment within which to bring up children… But many couples now choose not to marry. And more and more same sex couples want to take on the shared responsibilities of a committed relationship.” (http://uk.gay.com/headlines/5787) • Tory, Labour and Liberal Democrat are committed to maintaining tolerance, equal opportunities and diversity in our society.

Tensions • rights of individuals as citizens • equal treatment, • employment, • Partnerships • rights of religious groups to enforce behaviours • on members • on non-members through the secular state • on other states • Homosexuals presented as having agenda. • Homosexuals more likely to be victims of violence. Crimes of hate, conspiracy of silence: Torture and ill treatment based on sexual identity (Amnesty International 2000)

Transsexuality • Classical cultures: ‘Self-made eunuch emerges from Roman grave’ (Guardian 22/05/02) • Transgendered people have existed from the earliest times, as well as in cultures such as in India and Native North Americans. • As with homosexuals, attempts to pursue rights have met a backlash from religious right in Europe and America: ‘New gender recognition law challenged as ‘highly dangerous’’ http://www.parakaleo.co.uk/eaukresponsejuly2003.htm • Radical Feminists argue that it is our society’s gender stereotyping which causes gender dysphoria and results in radical surgery to change sex.

Human Rights (1) • Amnesty International report in 2000 highlighted that many people around the world are tortured, imprisoned and killed because of their sexuality or gender identity. • Such minorities are often not tolerated in much of North and South America, the Middle East, Africa and parts of Europe. People are targeted for simply being who they are – and this is sometimes sanctioned by the state.

Human Rights (2) ‘Gay rights protest at Mobo awards’ (Guardian 02/10/02) • There was an expression of anger that a number of artists had been nominated for best reggae act. These people had lyrics that urged the burning, shooting and battering to death of gays, completely unacceptable in a tolerant society. ‘Gay activists target Eminem’ (BBC News 05/02/01) • In the USA, similar arguments used by the Nazi’s against the Jews are often used to denigrate homosexuals. http://www.hatecrime.org/subpages/hitler/hitler.html

Intersex • The video “Hermaphrodites Speak” shows an informal discussion between a group of intersex people. It is distributed by the Intersex Society of North America, which campaigns for the rights of intersex people. • It is included because whilst this is has been a hidden minority in our society the incidence of intersex is higher than that of transsexuals.

Figures (Homosexuality) • The estimates of homosexuality are between 3 and 10% of society. • In a room of this number there could well be several people who are gay. • In this University that could be between 300 & 500 people. • In the UK, 3 to 5 million people could well be lesbian or gay. • That suggests that of the people now on this planet, 300 to 500 million of them either are – or could grow up to be gay or lesbian. (far more than the current population of North America). Many will live lives of denial. (Taking world population at 6,500 million)

Figures (Transsexuality) • The ratio of transsexuals in the US is officially estimated as 1 per 30,000 adult males and 1 per 100,000 adult females – yet it seems that 1 in 2,500 men have already had reassignment to female (0.04%). • The Hijra of India are a sect which includes intersex as well as transgendered people, and they are estimated at 1 million. That represents 0.1% of society. • At this University, that could be between 3 and 5 people. • Across the world, that could mean as many as 3 to 5 million people were potentially transsexual.

Figures (Intersex) • The estimates of the incidence of intersex vary between authors. The most conservative estimates are 0.018% and the most generous 1.7%. This one-hundred-fold difference is due to disagreement about what actually constitutes intersex. • According to reports in 2003 up to 5% of the male population in Western Europe and North America are now born with intersex-like genital ambiguities, the results of environmental pollution. • I will work on a figure around 0.5 & 1%

Figures (Intersex Cont.) • The number of intersex people in this University would be higher than transsexuals (3-5) but less than gays (3-500) – around 30 – 50 people • In the UK, that would mean there were between one-third and half-a-million people • That means around 30 to 50 million people worldwide (more than the working population of this country) could well be intersexed, and forced to live in shame and secrecy.

Summing Up (1) • You are more than likely to meet several homosexuals in your lives. It is likely that a class this size will have several. • You are not likely to meet many transsexuals, but there may be two or three here at the University. • At a University of this size there may well be a few intersexed people. So, you could find yourself sitting next to someone who is – and you would never know.

Summing Up (2) • After 150 years of research, the reasons for sexual and gender diversity are still not fully understood. The social and biological aspects are not clearly defined for any group: intersex is a biological phenomena, but what is and isn’t intersex is defined by people. • For religious leaders, a biological cause of homosexuality is inconvenient – undermining ideas about sin and choice. Yet for the National Socialists it was very convenient. The theories of some African leaders about homosexuality are not dissimilar to those espoused in Germany in the 1930’s.

Summing Up (3) • These phenomena occur globally and throughout history, but are not always tolerated globally. To ask the question that if homosexuality has some genetic basis, how can it continue to exist in evolutionary terms is problematic: that is a political stance that assumes homosexuality is deviant, and thus needs explaining. When we discuss nature vs. nurture, we do not ask whether heterosexuality is produced this way – because it is assumed as normal. • Wherever we live or come from, problems about these issues are often problems of language: Science itself guided by the bias of the investigator, along with the interpretation of the findings, and implementation of policy.

Sexuality & Gender Diversity in a Global Context