Fausto-Sterling: That Sexe Which Prevaileth

“If nature really offers us more than two sexes, then it follows that our current notions of masculinity and femininity are cultural conceits. Reconceptualizing the category of ‘sex’ challenges cherished aspects of European and American social organization.” (Sexing the Body, p. 31) In the section of Sexing the Body, entitled “That Sexe Which Prevaileth,” Anne Fausto-Sterling is breaking down the differences between the categories of sex and gender. She is drawing a stark distinction between the two, whereas traditional views dictate they are one in the same. However, as Fausto-Sterling explains, sex is biological and determined by nature, but gender is a socially constructed concept that has virtually no factual basis. In recent history, our society has been shocked by the forced realization that sex is not comprised of two extremes, male and female, but rather exists on a continuum that includes transgender, inter-sex, and even transsexual people. Society has always preached a two-sex system as a means to control that which is different and that which we don’t immediately understand. Moreover, Fausto-Sterling examines how the system of heterosexuality/homosexuality as a means of forming identity is murky and complex because someone’s sex is not always stable. She argues that a major problem with our culture is the fact that it is based upon three assumptions: 1. There should be only two sexes. 2. Heterosexuality is normal. 3. Gender roles define the psychologically healthy man and woman. These assumptions are not only hugely prejudicial, but they are entirely unrealistic. For the people that exist on the sexual spectrum in between male and female to be truly accepted, they need to be readily recognized by society as equally legitimate sex categories.