"The Five Sexes: Why Male and Female Are Not Enough" By Anne Fausto-Sterling

Several issues arose as I was reading "The Five Sexes: Why Male..."

First, Some people view a person's sexuality as a choice, and some see it as a person is born that way. This idea can be applied to the Berdaches described in "Changing Ones." The women and men describe their lives as not being out of place or defying the norm. They lead the lives they chose, whether a man completing women tasks such as cooking and making clothing or a woman fights as a warrior. both the men and women in these examples are seen as switching gender roles, and would be discriminated in western society.

The Berdaches are not segregated into categories as the "herm," "ferm," and "merm" are in "The Five Sexes: Why Male..." Therefore, according to most Native American societies sexuality is not categorized, and being gay isn't defined as a particular sex.

In our society, however, sexuality is highly defined, and one must decide a label for his/her self. The 'normal' label in American society is 'straight.' If anyone is any other sexuality besides straight they are considered obscure. "The answers seem to lie in a cultural need to maintain clear distinctions between the sexes." The cultural need to define a persons identity allows the majority of the population to connect with each other and help define who they are as a person. The majority of the population wants to be reassured that they are part of the 'norm.'

However, A person's "sex" can be defined in many many ways, but it is truly up to that person to decide how they feel. The article describes how people try to conform the minority to fit the norm when doctors intervene and catch 'deformities' at birth and have methods of 'correcting' them, but is a person not born how they are supposed to be?

This article, "The Five Sexes: Why Male..." brought to mind a book I have read on the same issue of sexuality and specifically pseudohermaphrodites, called "Middlesex" This book highlights many of the areas Anne Fausto-Sterling addressed in her article.