Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/494410
14 JIM Morrison once sang that 'in the old days, everything was simpler and more confused'. He might not have been thinking specifically about gen- der identity issues at the time; but the words nonetheless ring particu- larly true of society's perceptions of this obscure thing called 'sex'. For millennia, it was a fairly straightforward question. One is born either male, or female. There were occasional exceptions: hermaphro- ditism (when a person has physical attributes of both sexes at once) was known even to ancient cultures… in fact the word itself comes to us from Greek mythology… but it was always regarded as a very rare departure from this otherwise universal, incon- trovertible fact of life. If one is born with a penis he is male; with a vagina, she is female. End of story. But that's where the complica- tion begins. Reality doesn't always conform to popular perceptions, no matter how deeply ingrained. And here in Malta, the sheer extent of confusion surrounding issues of gen- der identity came dramatically some years back during a Constitutional case filed by a post-op transsexual, Joanne Cassar. Cassar had undergone gender reas- signment surgery, and the law courts gave legal recognition to her newly acquired status as a woman. But she was denied the right to marry be- cause (if I may simplify) the Director of Public Registry argued that the le- gal change did not extend to all the rights associated with her acquired gender: specifically, marriage. In the eyes of the State, Joanne Cassar was still a man. Only, somewhat less than other men. In her case, it was argued in court that she couldn't even marry another man. In fact, she couldn't marry at all. What followed was a lengthy court process, culminating in the rejection of the local verdict by the European Court of Human Rights. And it was in part to address the legal ambi- guities exposed by this case – not to mention all the misconceptions and prejudices – that the Gender Identity Bill was first conceived. Naturally, the complications do not end here. The bill was unani- mously passed in parliament, denot- ing a transition at least in political attitudes towards gender identity in Malta. But echoes of ancestral mis- conceptions can still be seen in some public reactions. Much of this negative reception is rooted in the same traditional pre- conceived notions about 'male' and 'female'. There is a section of soci- ety that is far more comfortable with the older, simpler view that "penis = male, vagina = female"… and any variation to that theme will be met with harsh resistance. And yet, these labels are clearly insufficient to adequately describe the broader phenomenon of 'gen- der'. Cassar's case alone proves this beyond any doubt; and there are thousands of other people caught up in the same quandary. They cannot all be wrong about their own sexual identity. So if 'gender identity' is about so much more than being a 'boy' and 'girl'… what is it, exactly? Maria Ali is one of local psycholo- gists who specialised in sex therapy. Who better to ask, then, about why 'sex' always seems to get people's knickers in a twist? "For some people, the question of gender may seem straightforward enough," she tells me in her Birgu apartment. "Some of us will have an identity in our mind, and our body will match our perception of that identity perfectly. Great. We don't have a problem. But for others it isn't as simple as having been born with certain physical characteristics. For some, there will be a mismatch be- tween 'who they are' and 'what their body looks like'..." This is partly why she welcomes the new law: it goes beyond the tradi- tional stereotypes of gender, and ac- knowledges a reality that some parts of society have yet to accept. "What we're moving towards is not having categories. It is not a case of 'this is what I look like, therefore this is what I am'. We need to acknowl- edge that it isn't black and white. It's not neat little boxes. I might have been born in the body of a man, for instance, but feel – or know, rather – that I am really a woman…" Nor is it just a case of adding a new box labelled 'transgender' alongside the traditional two. "Things are more complicated than that. Not everyone who feels a mis- match between their body and their gender identity will go on to do gen- der reassignment therapy. Different people cope with their gender issues in different ways." Gender reassignment therapy is ex- pensive, and takes an enormous toll on the person in both physical and psychological terms. But there are reasons why not all would opt for a sex change. "Some people choose not to re- move their sexual organs in order to be able to have children. So they live with a sexual organ that they feel isn't 'right' for their body. But they have to make a complicated choice: do they give up that possibility, to become who they really are? So the issue is not restricted to any one cat- egory of person." Still, categories do exist whether we agree with them or not… even if only as social constructs. 'Male' and 'female' may be a convenient way to distinguish between people born with different anatomical configura- tions; but there is enormous amount of non-physical trappings that also come with the package. Social expectations of men and women differ vastly at all levels. In Malta, secondary education is mostly segregated according to sex (though that is changing); and other gender differences of all types can be dis- cerned in various other aspects of daily life. Clearly, we associate much, much more with the two sexes than just their genitalia. Why is gender iden- tity so central to our self-perception as a species? "It's the first bit of information the world knows about you. The first thing parents find out – before it used to be at birth, now it's during pregnancy – is whether you are a boy or a girl. Not who you are: whether you are stubborn, what characteris- tics you have as a human being. That comes later. The first thing that mat- ters is your gender. That's how fun- damentally ingrained gender issues are. We've attributed a lot to gen- der, too. It is part of the excitement of childbirth: it's a boy! So this and this and this is going to happen. It's a girl! So this and that will happen. It shapes that person's destiny: what school they go to, who their friends will be…" Even the two traditional 'boxes' in- to which new-born babies are thrust can be misleading. When discussing gender identity, one might picture cases where people may have un- dergone a sex change, or manifest gender traits which do not match the physical configuration of their 'official' sex. But even in non-trans- gender cases the differences between male and female are not at all clear- cut. One recent example concerns a so- cial media stir caused by the child of a celebrity couple – Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt – who reportedly took time to identify with either gender. And you don't have to be a celebrity child to have doubts, either. Very small children may not even be aware that different sexes exist, let alone which category they themselves belong to. This raises the question: how much of our perceptions of our own sexu- ality is, in fact, completely unrelated to the physical aspect of sex... how much of it is in the mind? "Gender identity is an issue of how you see yourself. There is more to it than just the physical aspects which come with the label. The case you mentioned is not unique. It is com- mon to have young children – tod- dlers – who will strongly identify with one gender and not the other. That really shows how much gender is imprinted, in a sense. It's already there…" This points towards an underlying physical dimension… that it is all ultimately chromosomal: imprinted into our genes at conception… "Yes and no. We don't know enough about the chromosomal level to say for sure. But that's where it starts, certainly. And there are cultural fac- tors as well. But I would say that the cultural factors will influence how or to what extent one chooses to ex- press gender identity. Let's start with the family: if I live in a family where my parents will let me play with toy trucks instead of dolls – or vice versa in the case of a boy – then the choice is not about 'who I am', but 'how much do I get to express it?' That's where I think the societal factors, or the 'nurture' part of it, come in…" Naturally, the 'other family' also exists: where parents would be hor- rified if their darling little boy started playing with his sister's Barbie dolls. And moving beyond the family, there is a cultural level at which gen- der roles and expectations are very clearly defined, though these defini- tions are slowly changing. Working women were once a rarity; now, the Interview By Raphael Vassallo maltatoday, SUNDAY, 12 APRIL 2015 Boys will not always This is not just about sexuality; it's also about power. Who should take decisions on behalf of other people? Professionals, or the people themselves? CHANGE We are becoming more liberal, but not more casual. Some people are panicking that one will lead to the other. I disagree POWER