Monday, January 28, 2002

 

What makes a man a man?

There's a custody battle in Florida right now in which a woman is fighting her transsexual husband for custody of their two children. (One is her biological son whom he adopted. The other is the product of his brother's sperm.)

According to Court TV, the big question in court last week was "Is sex in the mind or the body?" "Sex is between your ears, not between your legs," testified Walter Bockting, an expert on transsexualism, on behalf of Michael Kantaras, the husband. Bockting went on to testify that fewer than 10 percent of the women undergoing gender reassignment actually have the surgery to "construct" a penis, thus pointing out that it's not a person's sex organs that tell them what sex they are.

The judge in the case went on to ask "Do you believe that having a small penis or having no penis at all makes an individual less of a man?" Of course Bockting said "No."

I think this trial could teach people not just about transsexuals, but about all men. Maybe it could even teach men a little bit about themselves. Maybe, just maybe, the men who put so much emphasis on penis size and performance would realize that's not what makes a man a man.

Is a man who's paralyzed from the waist down any less a man than someone who's not? Not if he's a good, decent human being. And isn't that what's more important than what is considered male and what is considered female?

posted by Anne 1/28/2002 02:23:00 PM