Η προέλευση και ο μετασχηματισμός
του φύλου
Prologue
In May 2016, a list of genders officially recognized in New York City was
publicly released. The list consists of 31 genders, and has been left open to
embrace new options. This was as many as there appeared to be at the time. In
the list, a woman takes 17th post, and a man 18th. Number 26 has been reserved
for “androgyne” and 31 for “androgynous”. I find it difficult to understand the
difference between androgyne and androgynous, except as grammatical categories.
As a matter of fact, beyond any list of this kind, biologically one can have a
vulva, a penis or both. There is no other possibility. This comes to be one of
the major conditions for the proper reading of the text – the biological sex,
the way it develops and how far it goes to transform into gender. There is not yet any gender in the Beginning. Or at least, the term has not yet appeared. In any
case, it exists as a notion, as we know from Greek mythology – men–men, children
of the Sun, women–women, children of the earth and men–women, born of the moon.
The NYC list was not to be the only one of its kind. In 2015, the Great Britain accepted the address honorific Mx to replace the traditional
Mr, Mrs and Miss. The reason was to avoid specifying gender characteristics of
personality. Mx is to be used also by the agencies responsible for issuing
driving licences and passports. One may address even Her Majesty the Queen as
Mx.
In our day, we have not only sex; we predominantly have gender. The history
of the term gender is amusing. If we properly read this text, we shall find
that it repeats the whole story of civilization. The term was proposed in 1955
by John Money, a man. His goal was to make a terminological distinction between
biological sex and gender in regard to society. He was not paid much attention.
Men were still men, and women remained women. The public kept everything else
in silence; homosexuality had been reprehensible since the time of the Old
Testament, and discussions on lesbianism were relegated to minor mention, as
the secular courts did not prosecute such cases.
We have to pay thorough attention to the etymology vastly presented in the
book; to read closely the development of meaning in words we often say or write
lightly. Etymology can reveal the history of any world process. It alone can
construct the thesis here proposed. This capacity has been made use of in the
text brilliantly. Lying comfortably in conventionality, we see men in the verse
of Homer - …Then men killed each other,
the battle front collapsed… (Iliad, 15:325). We also read that Zeus was the
father of all the gods and men, and Agamemnon - the basileus
of the people. As a matter of fact, the word that Homer used does not mean men,
but warriors, mortal warriors who are males and biologically and socially
possess vigour and strength, males of reproductive age. There is the
difference. (Nevertheless, the warriors might be male as well as female. We
have enough texts about it. This text, though, does not discuss it. Throughout
the story, there is no place for it. (Undoubtedly, the
philosopher stands on the grounds of his own gender orientation).
Thus it goes on even today. The scenario has
not changed dramatically. Only the criteria are different, as well as the
shades. The woman is memory and truth, the man is an experiment.
A man‒male is just a male. The woman is all
the rest.
P.S. One final guess – perhaps it seems
better to read the text twice – once as a male and once as a female. It is well
known that each of us is composed of both sexes, although in different
proportions and not always aware of it.
Katya Melamed, PhD
February 2018
Their Beginning
C. P. Cavafis (1863 – 1933)
Their illicit
pleasure has been fulfilled.
They get up and
dress quickly, without a word.
They come out of
the house separately, furtively;
and as they move
along the street a bit unsettled,
it seems they sense
that something about them betrays
what kind of bed
they’ve just been lying on.
But what profit for
the life of the artist:
tomorrow, the day
after, or years later, he’ll give voice
to the strong lines
that had their beginning here.
Translated by
Edmund Keeley/Philip Sherrard.
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