consciousness-raising

Over at Reason, Jesse Walker revisits the sad tale of David Reimer, a tragedy of pseudoscience gone awry.

I first learned of intersexuality when the Discovery Channel ran Is it a Boy or a Girl?, a rare sort of documentary combining a sympathetic perspective, scientific analysis, and matter-of-fact presentation. Before then, I assumed that girls and boys came in distinct, pink or blue packages. (I should have known better; when I was a wee infant, despite my mother's attempts to dress me in blue, manly attire, women would often remark on what a pretty little girl I was.)

According to Susan Glen, the documentary doesn't say enough. In her view, the Discovery Channel, trying to present both sides, ends up with nothing truly profound to say.

It's as though the film recognizes the rights of intersexed people to tell their stories, but it won't go so far as to validate those stories by challenging medical spokespersons.

This might be because Is It a Boy or a Girl? is part of the Discovery Channel's series on health and alternative medicine, but it's a little like leaving a quarter for a tip -- more insulting than not leaving a tip at all. And so, while this film could present some radical and revolutionary ideas, it doesn't: it could suggest that some people are both male and female, or neither male nor female; that the binary gender system is flawed and counterproductive; that the idea of forcing gendered conformity is unhealthy, naive, and antediluvian; that intersexuality is perhaps a more refined, sophisticated set of genders.

As a naive, binary sort of thinker, I might never have known intersexuality existed if I hadn't seen the program. To use a different cliche: at times, half a loaf suffices, if only just so.