Until reading of Cheryl and his/her plight of finding themself, and dealing with IGM, I had no idea what Intersex was, or that it even existed.
When I was younger, I first learned of what a transgender was, mistaking a transvestite for one. The difference was explained to me in a non-biased light: Transexuals are men or women who like to take on the appearance of the opposite sex. It doesn’t mean they’re weird, or creepy, but that they are more confortable that way. Transgender and/ or transexuals (which are generally two terms for the same thing) are men/ women who wish to transition to being the opposite sex, something very psychological and time consuming, but with todays technology, can be done.
Intersex however, is an entirely new to me. and leaves a lot of open questions, as I tend to be curious (sometimes overly so) and tend to want to ask my friends about this. The reason i say my friends is because a number of friends I have are indeed Transgender, or quite possibly, intersex. I feel odd about asking, as I don’t know exactley how to put my curiosity into words without being offensive. Like it stated in Reading 11 under the section ‘Language is Real, ‘words are real; bodies are not’. The way I interpret this is that you can say something, and what you say is what gives something meaning. Your body is not a real thing, just a cluster of words used to define your body.
when it comes to intersex, the body not being real is all the more realized, as it shows that you can call someone she, or he, when they are neither. they would be deemed he/she. why? Because there isn’t a word for this gender, it can only be one, or the other, society says so, even though its not so.
so after some careful deductions, I’m sure to think further into someones identity before labeling them, trans/ intersex, or not, as they are the ones who are being scrutinized, and they should be the ones to choose the words which give there body a meaning.
FA12-FYE106.01 