Cartesians lay things out, name things, and categorize everything. There is not one thing that I have come across in my life that didn’t have a name. We as human beings are the masters of classifying. Think about how many millions, probably billions, of people who have jobs doing just that, sorting, classifying, and constructing categories. When things do not fit into our laid out plan (Cartesian plan) we get uncomfortable and feel we need to find a place for it. Our entire world is laid out with a Cartesian mindset.
In Anne Fausto-Sterling’s book “Sexing the Body”, she lays out the categories of male vs. female. She also gives the defined criteria for those who fit into these two categories and the criteria for those who do not. She also informs us of 3 other “sexes” that have been constructed in order to categorize those who do not fit into the 2 socially accepted categories.
Fausto-Sterling argues that individuals born with an undetermined sex should be able to live that way. She believes that doctors should not be able to decide which sex the child “embodies more of”. I would say that Fausto-Sterling is “anti-Cartesian”. She does not think it is necessary to have 2 genders, 2 sexes, and 1 socially accepted sexual orientation. She thinks that there can be all and everything in between and this should be socially accepted. One should not have to check male or female on almost any survey, test, or ballot they fill out.
Having a socially accepted Cartesian way of thinking can sometimes hurt our society, especially when it damages one’s character. This is especially evident in the homosexual community. There are so many people in this world that do not agree with the socially accepted way of living. There have been reports of murders with the motive being the victim’s sexual orientation. If we did not classify this, we would not have this war of the “right vs. wrong“. Getting past the socially accepted genders, sexes, and sexual orientations is something that we as a society need to focus on. Things are not always going to fit into our “categories” and we must accept that.
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I agree with you that people should just accept things that don't fit into their way of viewing the world, or the socially accepted view, but to say that if we don't classify this we would not have this war of "right vs. wrong" is untrue. If we didnt classify something like this, it would cause more strife than good. It is a part of a person's identity to be able to say that they are male or female. However, i do believe that there could be more than just male and female genders out there and they should also be classified. But because the gender identity movement is just beginning they havent been classified yet. So for now, I believe that people should accept things that dont fit into our categories but sooner than later there will be more categories in which people can associate with and hopefully socially accept.
ReplyDeleteAs people we cannot stop categorizing or decide to take away the lines that divide up our society. Sometimes these lines leave people out of the groups that they should be in, or leave out an entire group of people. However, that is the way that our society has been formed and until a better way to run society is found, these are the issues that will arise by categorizing and organizing.
I can see what you're saying when you call Fausto-Sterling the 'anti-Cartesian'...but I think that her desire to put a name on the additional three sexes actually makes her Cartesian. When there are just two sexes, people are more likely to fall in between and not necessarily have a category. But when there are five sexes, everyone falls into a category somehow...she is giving the in between a name and essentially categorizing people just as Cartesian's would.
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