Here's my thoughts on human plasticity.
Mark Thompson has fired up his blogging engines once more and has a bit to say about John Webster and the Trinity.
David Hohne meanwhile gets all spiritual. Well, Jesus does.
Andrew Katay wants to stop hogging the leadership here.
5 comments:
I can't find my login details for Syd. Ang.s so I'll put this here. Today on Dr Phil (insert dramatic music) the topic was 'gender confused children'. http://drphil.com/shows/show/1201/
There was the mother of a child who is physically male but is attempting to live as a girl, supportive experts and across the couch were two experts who have counseled children and parents who are in similar situations but with unwanted cross-gender feelings (is that the correct term?).
The mother constantly shouted down the other experts so I didn't really follow their reasoning other than an overly involved mother is often at fault for a 'feminised' male child. This was met with outcries accusing a mother's love of 'turning' a boy into a girl.
I just thought it was another interesting slant - gender change is a result of too much love (nurture)?
I can't log in to Sydney Anglicans either. Here's some thoughts from my mum, who's a Christian, and an academic sexologist with Sydney Uni.
* * * * *
May I bring a Sexologist, Sex Researcher perspective to this issue.
Firstly, we need to understand the difference between biological sex and gender.
Historically, the term "sex" has been used to designate matters related to the biological determination of male and female (ie sex chromosomes, testis or ovaries). Those who had both male and female characteristics were called hermaphrodites, or more recently intersexed. In contrast, the term "gender" was used to determine the social and cultural context of male and female roles and behaviour.
The case of Reimer was an unfortunate one where John Money believed in the overriding effect of ‘nurture’ over ‘nature’. Even at that time, some sexologists (notably my good friend Milton Diamond, who's still working in the University of Hawaii) contested Money's notion of sexual plasticity.
The recent case of ‘Alex’, the girl granted permission for a mastectomy, is an example of transsexual female to male transition. In this particular case, Alex has been on hormone therapy for about 4 years after careful medical and psychological assessment and by court order.
We now know that children identify as ‘boy’ or ‘girl’ very early in life - even before they know their address, surname or religion. What we are still unsure about is WHERE this identity rests. We don't know much about how the brain affects our sexual self identity. Most of our knowledge is based on hormonal and genetic problems such as Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (where a biological male with testis looks externally and feels and acts as a female due to an insensitivity to the male hormone testosterone) and Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (where an excessive production of the male hormone testosterone in a female makes her genitals look male like and her brain more ‘male’).
The term transsexual was first used in the 1940s to denote individuals who desired to live (or actually lived) permanently in the social role of the opposite gender, and who wanted to undergo sex reassignment surgery to alter their anatomy as much as possible so it reflects that of their desired sex. This desire for surgery comes from an a feeling of discrepancy between one's sex of assignment on the one hand and one's basic sense of self as a male or female (gender identity) on the other hand. The expression is often used that they have a mind of a woman in the body of a male or, vice versa, a man's mind in a female's body. Classification codes use the terms ‘gender identity disorder (GID) or Gender Dysphoria for this same condition.
Transgender is a broad term used to refer to a diverse group of individuals who cross or transcend culturally defined categories of gender. The four largest subcategories include transsexuals, cross-dressers (sometimes also called transvestites), drag kings and queens (sometimes also termed male and female impersonators), and a variety of other terms denoting individuals who do not fit into traditional categories of male or female.
We have not even touched on Sexual Orientation which 'categorises' people on the sex of the person they are erotically attracted to. Again, the jury is out as to whether homosexual tendencies are nature or nurture. We do know that we have not yet identified a 'gay gene'.
Dr Patricia Weerakoon
Senior Lecturer and Academic Coordinator of the Graduate Program in Sexual Health
The University of Sydney
http://www.fhs.usyd.edu.au/sexual_health/
Can I post these comments over on SA meself? I will assume the answer is 'yes', but if you want me to take it down I will.
I don't mind my comments up there. I keep very, very clear from the forums/comments on Sydney Anglicans though because of the complete and utter lack of godliness from a disgusting number of people professing to be Jesus followers. Not looking for a reaction/defense etc. Just a reason why I didn't look too hard for my login details.
Thanks Dianne. I think you'll find things have changed for the better over there. I had the same concerns myself.
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