Justification of a Stigma

As a society we have a tendency to crave normalcy, even if it means marginalizing human beings at that expense. Class discussion pointed out how ridiculous it is to determine a persons characteristics, dreams and abilities by their biological make up. When we are born, we are not innately prepared to lead a life defined by our body, but rather we are conditioned by society and its expectations. The importance of gender is limited to the label. Labels provide comfort because if we know enough to give something a name, it is safe to assume we will know what to expect. Not being able to give something a label admits we don’t know everything, and uncertainty makes people uneasy and afraid.  

The dependency for a label is a reflection of a flaw in society rather than a flaw in those they have marginalized. In this case the marginalized are those who could be described as intersex. Reis explains in great detail their struggle with the stigma that was forced upon them. It starts with, and is perpetuated by the language that people use to describe these people.

Initially intersex people were viewed as being monstrous. Aristotle was very straightforward with his artwork and portrayed a message that would “explicitly linking inhuman monsters and hermaphrodites.” (Reis 5) The puritans believed that every event was a sign from God, that the birth of a monster and consequently a hermaphrodite was a warning of sorts.

As time went on people abandoned the idea that hermaphrodites were monstrous, and were able to accept that they too were people or human beings. But because they were “different” they still carried the stigma with them. There were documents that showed that people were able to look passed the “flaw” in their biological make up, to the person inside. One was characterized as being honest and loyal and punctual although he also had a temper. He was described as ambiguous by sexuality terms and even his personality stopped him from being able to be identified as either gender. The idea was presented that he shouldn’t interact with people beyond that which was necessary to make a living and support himself.

Although this progress had been made it was hindered by the fact that intersex people were accused of fraud. The idea of fraud tells that a person isn’t acting in a way that is true to what they are. By using the term fraud, it insulates again that society is claiming that gender defines them as a person. That the ambiguity is wrong, that the person with this biological make up is wrong about however they chose to act, rather than ever entertaining the idea that the need to know and control another person and their lifestyle simply because it is different is what is wrong.

The stigma changed again to the idea that intersex people were perverts. This idea was rooted in two fundamental notions. First being the importance of marriage and the second being the fear of homosexuality. The idea that intersex people should be celibate was emphasized at this point. “he recommended eliminating sexual desire altogether through surgery: “So ill-fitted for the generative function and so prone to psychical perversions and moral degradation, such cases should be castrated early in life.”” (Reis 69)

When Psychology was in it’s early stages they used extensive personality tests in the attempt to reflect a persons “true” gender. However although it was considered a science, at that time it worked similarly to how religion did because the researchers had an intended result they were aiming to “prove”. The idea behind personality tests was that the person was able to choose their own answer, and their answers would reflect the ideas and concerns of either a boy or a girl. The problems with these tests were that they still promoted the idea that only two roles were acceptable. Although they were choosing the answers they had they could only end up being feminine or masculine. Today we know there are so many more options that a person could be, so to confine people to such limited options is simply self deluding and unrealistic.

People crave a sense of normalcy and were able to find it through justifications of religion and science. It was important because people were afraid of the unknown. They were able to continue the stigma through different justifications. It is important to recognize that although they were able to claim they had evolved and left such prejudice behind, the stigma had simply changed form and shape, but it was still just as present and apparent.

In todays society language presents a lingering stigma. A lot of research time and thought has been done to truly move forward in this regard. However regardless of intention ignorance of the issue continues to marginalize those of intersex orientation. Certain names such as hermaphrodite reflect times when other terms such as hybrid, or sexual pervert, or creature were also relevant and it perpetuates that stigma.

Language has a lot of power. Language is what reflects your thoughts, and your thoughts reflect the kind of person and essentially who you are. In the effort of making a society where everyone is understanding and open, it important to understand the stigma in every form, recognize its flaw and take the personal responsibility to do what you can to remove it from society.