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Like American Idol, gender to me is a social construct. It is an artificial process of peer pressure, unnecessary dichotomies, and boundary setting and punishment that limits people, forcing us into boxes in which our full range of humanity is constrained. Does this mean that there aren’t some inherent differences between the male and female sex? Sure there are (ask even the most committed feminist parents about how surprised they were when they had kids), but my personal belief if that it is culture that amplifies and distorts the “otherness” between the sexes. My view on this was shaped by the Western (American) culture in which I grew up and live, and while I am most familiar with Western influences on gender, it seems that all cultures exert their influence on gender identity.
This is why a clip on transgenderism in Samoan culture from episode 3, Sexual Identity of National Geographic’s Taboo series caught my rapt attention. Essentially, labor in Samoan society is strictly divided by gender. Of course, all domestic tasks fall to women. When there are not enough biological women in a household to complete domestic tasks, biologically male children are often raised as girls. Known as fafafini, these transgendered individuals pursue relationships with men and consider themselves women, despite their male genitalia. They are not viewed as homosexuals because in Samoan society, as the narrator of the clip intones, “Act like a woman, and the group will consider you a woman.” Fafafinis, according to the clip, consider themselves superior to males and females. They are a third gender.
The downside of the fafafini culture is that severe constraints continue to exist. Fafafinis are created by their families, not by their choice. The clip did not address what happens if there are plenty of biological girls in a family and a boy wants to become a fafafini. Nor does it mention whether there is room for girls to be considered boys. A small portion depicting a boy insisting that he is a boy while others tell him that he is a girl is glossed over. So while it is nice that Samoan culture can accept in a limited way that sex does not dictate gender or behavior, it is still obvious that culture defines acceptable gender limits.
“Sexual Identity” aired on Wed., Aug. 5 and also included a segment on a white biological woman describing her identity and life as a man, trying to “demystify the transsexual body” for others. From the two clips I viewed online (I missed the full episode on TV, but hope it will re-air), it seems like “Taboo” put together an interesting and thought-provoking episode on sex and gender. As Arlene Starr eloquently pleas at After Midnight, “All I ask is what women everywhere have been asking for eternity, consider me for something other than what I was born with between my legs.”
With Arlene’s request for equality in mind, is gender any less of a social construct than race? The point of “Taboo” is to push beyond boundaries and understand “shocking” cultures and practices from around the world. Until we do so, it is hard to understand ourselves, why we act the way we do, and what we can do to live in a better, freer world.
Suzanne also blogs at Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS) and Other Rants
