Textual Analysis: YouTube and Forced Gender Olivia Thompson March 18, 2013
When analyzing the concept of intersex and transgender people in the media it becomes apparent the role of media in creating a culture of forced gender for all humanity. As is seen in all forms of the media, male and female gender stereotypes are placed throughout, which ultimately perpetuate the gender binary on a societal level. But when groups of people that either associate strongly as a different gender (transgender people), or are born anatomically different than standard infants (Disorders of Sex Development (DSD) /or intersex infants), then doctors try very hard to treat their disorder, and shape them into to media’s portrayal of stereotypical gender roles. A short clip originating from the ‘TLC’ channel, found on YouTube, entitled, Intersex InfantSurgical Abuse, describes the horrific example of a doctor’s persistent effort to transform an infant’s gender without parent permission. The mother stayed strong in her virtue ethics by doing what she thinks is just morally the best decision to make, and did not want to force the child to be female when her son, Patrick, identified obviously as male. The video displays how the medical field, which categorizes and defines us anatomically and mentally, also enforces the only two genders that are targeted in the media, and in cases will surgically alter intersex infants genitals to appear male or female without any consent from the parent(s). But the doctor in Intersex Infant-Surgical Abuse is guided by an invisible set of beliefs led by cultural relativism. Because all indicators of gender in our culture, such as the media, produce stereotypes that have shaped throughout history the medical field in which trained the doctor, he was able to perform the surgery because he perceived it the right thing to do in this culture. The cultural ideology that doctors decide the gender of infants, and by custom, directly at birth, is an invisible concept to many that unnoticeably controls our lives. When infants are born with DSD it increases the awareness however, that doctors do choose and force a gender assignment of either male or female onto a child. The same choice of gender that is decided with intersex infants is also practiced with standard infants. It is much easier for standard infants though, to acquire their genders because they do not have to surgically transform into a different
gender, unless they realize they are transgender at some later point and decide to transition. The existence of transgendered people suggests that it is possible for doctors to unknowingly choose the wrong gender for any infant, despite ‘obvious sex’. Based on my deontological argument, when universally applied, it is unethical for a doctor to choose the incorrect gender of an infant, but because incorrect gender assignment occurs unquestionably with many intersex individuals and is proven by increases in the transgendered population, it should therefore be unethical for doctors’ to choose any infants gender so as to prevent the risk of forced gender. All humans should have the autonomy to independently choose their gender or genderless position later in life. But because the advertising industry and all other forms of media depend on the binary of gender as a means to its profitable ends, stereotypes force the majority of humans into a limited gender binary which is carried out in the medical industry. The two types of genders perpetuate and fuel the advertising industry which also in turn reinforces the male and female gender roles. Males have been endlessly portrayed as embodying a role of physical strength, patriarchal dominance, and are controllers of wealth, women, and status. Women are victimized and weakened by the media’s depiction that creates stereotypes of objectified parts of women’s bodies, and constructs the feeling that women are overly emotional, and irrational who subordinate themselves culturally to men. These are just a few examples of our cultures socialized opposition of male and female gender. There have always been humans however, currently referred to as transgendered, or queer, who have recognized a feeling of personal characteristics that are out of sync with the cultural stereotypes and medical classifications that have come to define the male and female genders. Before more research began in the 1960’s, the medical treatment for transgendered people was therapy until a professor at John’s Hopkins University, John Money, began research in sex change operations for transgendered people as well as intersex infants. While this may seem like a development in transgendered rights, John Money also defined a very powerful concept of “optimumgender”, which classified transgendered and intersex people as having a medical disorder in which
surgically transitioning should be the treatment. (Cosby, 2011). In the video Intersex Protest Forced Genital Surgery, intersex people who have been the most affected by physically altering treatments, protest the ideologies of John Money and argue against “optimal gender” and forced genital surgeries. Because of their passion it seems most easily to fit under virtue ethics, because they feel that an injustice was committed to them, and that the one true right things to do is not force gender. The video interviews the founder of the Intersex Society of North America, who demonstrates many different ethical perspectives, such as using a utilitarian theory when showing large numbers of people being negatively affected. And because of their quality of lives, the current practice is not benefitting the greater number of people. Instead of helping people find the freedom of expression to live outside of the stereotypes perpetuated by media culture, and be comfortable in their born body and inclinations, John Money helped to mandate a culture that only medically accepts one or the other gender as identifiable. John Money’s principle of optimal-gender is also used when determining the sex of infants born with ‘disorders of sex development (DSD)’, and interchangeably, ‘intersex’ infants, who do not appear to be anatomically fully male or female. Overall, despite much more evidence in the direction of unethical practice, when deciding to force everyone to live in the gender binary of male and female, the U.S. media perpetuates the binary impenetrably by creating never-ending male and female gender stereotypes in opposition. Utilitarianism shows that because of how exploited gender has become by the media, everyone is actually being forced to follow roles that create social inequality and does more harm than good to the whole, so is therefore unethical to force gender. Deontology works in a similar way and shows how since it can be universally true that it is unethical to incorrectly choose a child’s gender, that doctor’s should not be put in this place of judgement. And that the U.S. media by forcing us to pick on or the other, does not give us full autonomy in decision making, therefore it is unethical for the media to perpetuate such strong ideals of gender that inundates the medical field.
References (2010, March 22) Intersex Reassignment Surgery [YouTube Video]. Retrieved March 4, 2013 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ya38eFjlY-c&list=HL1362411056 (2010, February 4) Intersex Protest Forced Genital Surgery [YouTube Video] Retrieved March 4, 2013 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3IjSYdLGvg&list=HL1362411056 Cosby, A. (Producer) (2011, April 17) History of Psychology: Dr. John Money [YouTube] Retrieved March 4, 2013 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXI5BVK8G-E T.L.C. (producing channel) (2008, September 26) Intersex Infant-Surgical Abuse [YouTube] Retrieved March 4, 2013 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OG1cG0UuO4&list=HL1362411056