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Sex, Gender Identity and Respect

Sex, Gender Identity and Respect


In the first article: "Sex and Gender Identity", it discusses how a gender or sex is determined by different aspects and outlooks. Each having their flows and indecisiveness, the issue remains unresolved and the many definitions present place people into categories they may or may not belong to. So it is up to many factors to decide upon such an issue, and in the end it may not be possible at all.

Sex of a man or a woman can be merely determined by their genital organs. A man is said to be a man for having testes and a penis, and women by having ovaries and uterus. But still a man is considered a man even if he was born congenitally without testes or had to excise them surgically in a later stage in his life, so is the case for women. Another argument can be based on chromosomes. But the problem in this is that some men or women chromo- somatically tested are not categorized as they ought to, i.e. XX or XY but have a different karyotype! And if this is solved by creating the 'I sex' where scientist define it as "an intersexed person with a karyotype other than XX or XY" (Anderson, 27), most people did not have their chromosomes tested so the problem remains unsolved! An alternative definition of man or women identities can be constructed from how the person regards him/herself and how the society regards them too. But here the situation is not set since the intersexes transsexual issue is not determined and how the community sees them can differ from place to place and norms, traditions and definitions change. Along with all this, the transsexual presence complicates further the matter.

The term sex remains a conflict, so does the term gender which regards the area of masculinity and femininity and the behavior of individuals and their attitude. Masculinity is connected with 4 themes: Antifemininity, materiality and physicality, inexpressiveness and independence, adventuress and aggressiveness, alternatively Femininity is connected with the themes; Antimusculinity, immateriality, expressiveness and passitivity. Some encourage the intermixation of femininity and masculinity in every individual- androgyny- to allow the best qualities of both to merge. The gender role is doing what is expected of them, i.e. men doing their masculine roles and females doing their feminine roles, but this is not easy since genders are not clearly distinguished yet, therefore we need a clear definition so genders can do their roles efficiently.


The Second Article: Sex, Lies, and Respect by Ann Garry talks about pornography and women being disrespected and treated as sexual objects.

In the end of the 60s two views about pornography were present the conservative and the liberal. Debates expressing point of views of this matter were wide spread and many women against it became grouped with others like religious groups whom they did not necessarily agree with. Such women include Catharine MacKinnon and Andrea Dworkin who consider pornography as sex discrimination and expresses the sub domination of women especially in a political and legal point of view. Dworkin states that "Pornography, like rape, is a male invention, designed to dehumanize women, to reduce the female to an object of sexual access, not to free sensuality from moralistic or parental inhibition.... Pornography is the undiluted essence of anti-female propaganda".(Garry, 2)

But the writer has a different view about pornography as a moral concept "to label those explicit sexual materials intended to arouse the reader, listener, or viewer sexually" (Gary, 2). Censoring such material will be subject to many issues including freedom of choice and the moral and political stands.

Also discussed in this article away from the legalization war, is the descended value of women in respect to the humanity prospective along with disrespect to their identity. This objection comes from treating women as a sexual object and how this decreases their value. Even if men are part of the pornographic scenes shown, they are not degraded like women by this community (though some do, mainly women) to the same extent. This also carries the message that women want to be raped or mistreated and their assumed resistance is not to be released, but only demands joy. So pornography can be evaluated by the moral features of its content. Men's respect is more difficult to be lost compared to women, if men do regard women as achieving bad acts, harm is expected from men's side, on the other hand even if women regard men as the bad actor's, harm is still anticipated from men's side.

Feminists regard sex as undirty and do not admit to classes to classify women whether good or bad. But they can see how women can be treated as a sex object and lose respect. changing the way people think is suggested to be possible if powerful feminists take stands and their allied men stand by them to change the definition (as it is man made) of sexuality. And if there is any beneficial value to pornography, it can be attempted to show them. The world cannot be designed the way we want, and many things desired cannot be achieved; such as pornography to be nonsexist and acceptable from a moral stand. But sadly in the end it can be seen that there is nothing one can do to men who degrade women and the way they think.


Comparing/ contrasting

In the first article it merely talks about the different definitions existing for sex, gender, gender identity and gender roles. The biological, chromosomal, and society views all failed to satisfy the case. Gender roles cannot be anticipated from people because of such a dilemma and indistinction. Therefore a universal definition which justifies the words does not exist yet and is difficult to obtain since many elements implicate such an act, such as racial , moral, norms, community aspects, time periods differences.

In the second article it signifies the impact of pornography. How dirty it is considered, and if not how it discriminates women's self-esteem and respect in their community. The writer argues how it can be evaluated from its contents, and can be used as a beneficial source, though it still degrades women. Men see it as a source if enjoyment and women's hurt as acting but in reality they enjoy it too, bringing to one's mind a lot of thoughts that may in reality encourage injuring women. Other forms of pornography such as children or animals abuse have their market too, and it can be clearly seen how the environment we live in becomes exotic and strange, with such people existing and believing its their personal right to watch what they want and nothing is wrong in doing that no matter how exploited the scenes are. Pornography being morally acceptable is still undetermined but nevertheless will remain in our community.


Assessment

The first article was fair enough since it was discussing the debates present for defining the terms: Sex, Gender, and their roles and identity. It also made clear points why current systems have their flows in giving a clear cut in distinguishing people, and how in one system a person can be classified as a woman, and in another as a man, making the situation even more complicated and unfair. The presence of gays and lesbians and transsexuals in our community makes the situation more complex, as their acts are different from what they seem to be, some undergo surgery others are happy with their body's but their behavior is quite different from what they seem to be.

In the other article, I see the second article handles two points of views running around pornography: legal point of view of its validity and the moral point of view which degrades women. The legalization of such an act was brought to court in many cases since pornography is seen as a form of hate abusing women in every aspect especially sexual-wise and actually encourages others to do the same setting a bad example, though many argue that not all seen is done, but no one can deny the effect of visual entertainment such as TV programs and videos have on people, and many studies conducted can reinforce this point of view.

I see this article as stronger than the other, though some points are still unclear regarding the current stand for pornography, but in general such an article has an impact further than the other in terms of stands taken, how views can be altered, and the clear point of women being maltreated no matter how pornography is defined or regarded. This discrimination and inferior view of women has a subtle effect on our community, and the numerous court cases around sexual harassment whether physical, verbal or an attitude problem illustrates this. Pornography indicates its alright that women to be treated this way because they like it otherwise they would not do it, is not an accurate statement and many women asked in person would deny their liking of such a treatment, though some cases may like such behavior, it should not be generalized and acted upon publicly.


Conclusion

The writer Jami L Anderson; an Associate Professor of Philosophy and an Acting Chair of the Philosophy Department; did not give clear definition of the terms handled in the article: "Sex and Gender Identity'' and it was not intended to be answered in the context 'rather it is an introduction..' to this dilemma, consequently gender roles cannot be determined adequately at least in that chapter because no clear cuts where handed for the definitions, by so when a gender is not plainly labeled its role will not be established (Anderson, 25).

On the other hand Professor Hugh Lafollette and Ann Gary consider Pornography as a method of degradation to women, as it disrespects them to a greater extent compared to men who also participate in them. Their treatment as sex objects is not acceptable no matter how one looks upon them, though some may still argue that pornography can be beneficially used.
Work Cited

Anderson, J. L., "Sex and Gender Identity", 25-32

Garry, A. as Sex, Lies, and Respect, 1- 11 reprinted from: Hugh Lafollette, "Sex, Lies, and Pornography," ed., Ethics in Practice 2nd Ed (2001)
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Posted by: FICHTNER, SANDEE

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