What is a Woman? (Theorizing Gender)

         
            First, let me begin with a disclaimer.  Ever since I was a young child, my parents have taught me to accept hetero-, homo-, and trans- people, as well as all people of different race, class, or ethnicity than my own.  When I was five, I learned that my uncle was a transvestite (drag queen) and there was no consideration in my mind that he was weird, or even different from normal people.  Honestly, I thought he was the coolest person in the world because he would dress my sister and I up in his wigs and make-up.  I also grew up very much involved in the lives of a lesbian aunt and her partner.  My mother and father are very loving people and in combination with their support for my queer family members, and their constant struggle to weed out racist comments from within our extended family (my mother has a black godson), I can honestly say that I am accepting of all peoples.  With this said, I have a very liberal sense of what being a woman entails.

            The World Health Organization states that “‘Male’ and ‘female’ are sex categories, while ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ are gender categories.”  I agree that a male is a person whose sex chromosomes are composed of X and Y (XY), conversely a female is a person whose sex chromosomes are composed of two X’s (XX).  I also agree that masculinity and femininity are gender categories.  In the story of Baby X, it is clear that researchers are combating gender socialization—a process in which our culture teaches us how to be boy or girl, according to patriarchal norms, consequently creating ideals of masculinity and femininity.  The parents of the story have a manual that states, “Never make Baby X feel embarrassed or ashamed about what it wants to play with.  And if X gets dirty climbing rocks, never say ‘Nice little Xes don’t get dirty climbing rocks’ [Stereotype of females].  Likewise, it said: ‘If X falls down and cries, never say, ‘Brave little Xes don’t cry.’”  This story shows that if society cannot label the baby with an extra X or Y, it disables society’s power of imposing these gender categories.  Society therefore, cannot craft males into strong, handsome, aggressive creatures, transversely, society has no role in the molding of females into beautiful, intelligent, passive creatures (aka patriarchal norms).  The story of Baby X represents this scenario and shows a result of intertwined and complementary aspects of masculinity and femininity within the child. 
  
            My definition of men and women, although typically synonymous with male and female, is quite different.  I feel that a woman is any person whom mentally identifies themselves as a woman, or in other words, a person who feels like a woman.  Therefore, my definition allows transgendered peoples whom are born men but identify with women, to be women.  I would also consider my uncle the drag queen, to be a woman and a man (like mushroom coral with can switch back and forth).  When he is not dressed up, he is a gay man.  When he is in full drag, he sees himself as a beautiful woman; he feels like a beautiful woman.  By ‘doing gender,’ and dressing/acting as a stereotypical female, my uncle becomes a woman.  At the end of the night, he returns to ‘doing gender’ in a homosexual male style.  I truly believe this to be possible, regardless of what society deems correct, appropriate, etc.  Who cares?  Let people be who they want to be!