I should get used to the fact that contemporary society loves to blur boundaries. Most recently, I’ve been thinking about how a basic distinction like male and female is increasingly challenged. For instance, with the Olympics around the corner, definitions of men and women are debated. The NYTimes writes:
Although the verification test has changed to adapt to new scientific understandings about gender — athletes are now evaluated by an endocrinologist, gynecologist, a geneticist and a psychologist — critics say the test is based on the false idea that someone’s sex is a cut-and-dried issue.
“It’s very difficult to define what is a man and what is a woman at this point,” said Christine McGinn, a plastic surgeon who specializes in transgender medicine.
I’m not in a position to debate all the intricacies of the genetics of sex and such. I appreciate the complexity. But I do think that the “intersex” exceptions should not rule the day and encourage us to blur the lines between men and women. One of the basic ideas of creation in Genesis 1 is that God is making order out of chaos by making distinctions between things: light and dark, sky and water, water and land, land and plant, plant and animal, animal and human, human male and human female. If God makes distinctions in creation, we should uphold these distinctions as good.
Comments (5)
I hear you. I not only like the complexity but enjoy it! Blurring boundaries in art creates a tension or irony that attracts me. But that same art probably creates pressure on institutions to remove those boundaries. That is not my intention.
I have respect and value for distinctions. They are there for a reason and complexity shouldn't automatically delegitimaze boundaries. Society is damaged in a world without definitions. Perhaps art would suffer as well?
I like "Twelfth Night" but want to keep males and females defined in the Olympics!
Not sure I agree with you. Genesis 1:27 being an "Elohimist" narrative implies both male and female were made from the singular image of G-d.
Be glad that G-d made you as you are and not intersexed. I suspect that were you born intersexed, you would have a very different perspective, on how others treat you "Oh they should not be allowed to blur the sacred two sexes" (yes that is called Idolatry, there is only one G-d not two)
You may also come to understand G-d in a different light
shalom
Sophie
Thanks for taking the time to write, Sophie. I certainly agree that both males and females are made in the image of God. Believe it or not, I'd also affirm that intersexed individuals are made in the image of God--full of the dignity, morality, rationality, spirituality, and capacity for relationships that God intended.
At the same time, I still uphold the distinctions that God makes in creation. Land is separate from water and that is the way it must be for life to exist as God intended. Of course, there is the place where the water meets the land--the beach. It's a beautiful place to be for sure, but not what all the earth should aspire to be.
I'm intersex and I'm comfortable with it. I was born intersex because of a extra gene in body.
Hello rlew
Thanks for your thoughtful reply. I think what is bothering me about this debate is the way some have taken all this as a license to attack intersex people using biblical narratives. (I am not saying you do this :)
I agree with you that the separation of male and female is a fundamental biblical principle. Your description of a beach is a wonderful analogy of the concept behind the name El Shaddai. It is a part of what G-d created and for a reason. G-d will always be above creation and G-d has left such places and ideas to remind us all of that. It is impossible for the entire world to be like a beach, but without beaches the world would seem wrong somehow. I am comfortable with the fact that I am intersexed because I know that G-d has a reason for it.
I do love the analogy you used as well.
thanks
shalom :)
Sophie