A few weeks ago, Rebecca Walker visited Pitt and discussed several views on gender and the… A few weeks ago, Rebecca Walker visited Pitt and discussed several views on gender and the social construction that defines masculinity.

In one account, she talked about a woman who had a son that continuously had the urge to play with Barbie dolls. Concerned about this effeminate desire, she took her son to a child therapist where he was diagnosed with Gender Identity Disorder. I remember several members in the audience, including Rebecca Walker, scoffing at the ridiculousness of the diagnosis.

From that day forward I began to contemplate what drives people to label what is masculine and feminine and what the consequences are of doing that for people whose sex and gender are in disagreement.

First we must break it down. There is sex, gender and sexuality. It would seem that the three can be used interchangeably, but they are all actually quite different.

Biologically, sex is the marker that identifies males and females. Vested in jargon that includes hormones and chromosomes, it brands individuals according to what physical characteristics they are born with. Gender is the social construction that ascribes what it means to be masculine or feminine. This is the battleground where the aforementioned Barbies and G.I. Joes are the contenders and this is the area that often indicts us as intolerant to the feelings of people who don’t fall into our neatly shaped categories.

In the beginning, sex is something that is difficult to ascertain if one’s bundle of joy is not donning the signature pink or blue. Yes, we emerge as human beings. Concentration is paid mostly to counting fingers and toes. Slowly but surely the attention is refocused and every one will soon pose the single most frequently asked question: Is it a boy or a girl?

Once we determine the sex, several attributions soon follow. Masculinity is dominance, strength, assertiveness and other empowering adjectives. Femininity is coy, sensitive and everything that characterizes a passive Lifetime Original Movie actress. Yes, many of us have taken our power to define to search for our own meanings. By and large, however, there are shoes — or pumps — that society wants us to fill.

But what happens when the form doesn’t follow function? Despite anatomical indicators, the biggest question of gender lies in the heart. And among other things that are internal struggles there are societal ramifications.

As we progress further into the 21st century, it may seem that we have come a long way. Yes, things like discrimination and racism still exist, but there has been a significant attempt to effect change through enacting legislation. Taking a closer look at how transsexuals are perceived in different countries allow us to gauge what progress has really been made.

In Albania, some women cut their hair, wear slacks and are identified as “sworn virgins.” These women who become men are said to be a result of a “lack” of men in families. Other evidence suggests that it was most prevalent when women could not inherit land and their duties were predominantly domestic in nature.

In contemporary Albania, because women have acquired more rights, this lifestyle is not seen as a necessity. Now women must request the blessing of society to live in this way.

In America people who have mixed feelings about their sex are often referred to therapists and other professionals where they are diagnosed similarly to the boy who had “gender identity disorder.” If they desire a surgery to make the biological more compatible with the internal, they must face several years of therapy before they are granted a sex change through sexual reassignment surgery.

In some instances, waiting can be a good and bad thing. This is good because people can take a significant amount of time to decide whether they want the irreversible surgery performed. This can be bad because the average age for surgery in America is 50. By the time people receive the surgery, they are often to old to reap the benefits of their new sex.

In other countries such as India, the idea of a third sex attempts to reject the idea of gender completely. These individuals are often referred to as Hidras, or eunuchs, which are hermaphrodites or men who are homosexual or impotent.

The third sex is not really encouraged by society members and sexual reassignment surgery is illegal. These people are banished to edge of society, and shunned from their families because they are seen as an embarrassment. Hidras or eunuchs live very unhappy lives as a result.

Considering all these interpretations on sex and gender, there is always the underlying desire to just be — free of labels and connotations. Is there no place for individuals who experience these feelings?

When considering the resources the United States can utilize, it is a shame that the free world isn’t a little more compassionate or accepting of people who live in daily turmoil, as they struggle to come into their own while facing society’s constructions and definitions. In the end, despite sex, gender or sexuality we are all human beings and tolerance should prevail because humanity transcends all.

Email Rose at [email protected].