Sex and the Gender Cops
TransGender Community News
September 2000

Written by Cerise Richards

     Here we are living in the most diverse pluralistic society in the world where sex and sexuality abound in the media and yet we cannot find the freedom to be who we are sexually.  Why is that? It is because we are living in a Western society with a long history of sexual Puritanism that is ingrained in our institutions of law and order. We all understand that we have freedom within limits imposed by institutions of authority that we accept and understand.  Also we know how difficult it is to change these institutions within the confines of democracy. On the other hand we could be living in a theocracy like Iran where the punishment for adultery is death by stoning or in Saudi Arabia where the punishment for cross dressing is public flogging. So in this treatise, I would like to explore what we mean by our sexuality and our gender in order to highlight the historical and current restrictions on our behavior. Well, who are the Gender Cops? They are not the Men in Blue, who uphold our laws, nor are they the jack-booted Gestapo of Nazi Germany, but they are your legislators, judges, ministers, teachers, doctors, prominent politicians, leaders of some women's movements, gay and lesbian leaders and worst of all sometimes your best friend. Usually it is someone who speaks from a position of authority.  As best as I can tell from reading, this phenomenon has been with us for over 500 years.
        Sex and its attendant sexuality is defined by the biological differences between male and female for purposes of reproduction. But beyond that sexuality becomes very controversial when its purpose is erotic gratification or pure pleasure.  For centuries the Church had been the arbiter of sex and sin, but as the authority of the church has diminished so have its advocates for birth control, abortion and chastity among its followers. If we look back to the Hebraic tradition, we find rules of when and how to have sex, with the biblical commandment "not to covet thy neighbor's wife" and to "marry your brother's widow if there were no children".  And from the New Testament, Evangelicals continually quote passages to decry homosexuality and abortion.  But sexuality also includes fantasy, intimacy, love and pleasure.  We can also think of sin, danger, violence and disease depending on our pursuits. Sexuality shouts to us from print media, billboards, the TV, pulpits and the streets, but in this country usually within bounds which are voluntary or legislated.
 For the past 150 years, legislatures in England and the U.S. have passed many bills criminalizing homosexuality and sodomy.  Only in the last 20 years have the majority of those laws been reversed. The same is true of sex-related disease. In the mid 1800�s laws were passed to force examination of anyone deemed a prostitute who might have syphilis and then to quarantine them.  Much the same legislation was introduced in Britain at the beginning of the AIDS panic when homosexuals were said to be spreading the "Gay Plague".  Umfortunately the infected heterosexual population in Africa became evident and showed the folly of this plan.
 At the beginning of the 1900's, doctors began to investigate the science of sex and hormones.  Much of the authority for governing sexual practice fell to medical textbooks and the research of Kinsey, Masters and Johnson.  With the development of the Pill in the Sixties, sexuality became secularized and the "Sexual Revolution" was born.  Attitudes were liberalized and people were more accepting of birth control, abortion, premarital sex, divorce, homosexuality and maybe transsexuals.
With the decline of the Church's influence, a clear body of legal change began with principles enunciated in the Wolfenden Report on Homosexuality and Prostitution in 1957.  The new approach relied on a clear distinction between the role of law, to uphold generally acceptable standards of behavior, and the domain of morals, increasingly seen as a matter of private choice. In practice this meant allowing "consenting adults in private" to pursue their personal ends without interference so long as the public was not unduly frightened. This promoted a strong sense of community among homosexual groups as never before. It instituted a form of tolerance without full acceptance, which later developed slowly.(1)
 Our society and especially our courts see sexuality in black and white, male or female, heterosexual or homosexual and not much in between. So where do we fit in as TG's, TV's, TS's, and CD's? At the moment, we are the source of their confusion and it our job to insist on our inclusion. This is the same problem that bisexuals face in trying to make their case. In fact the broad gamut of homosexuals, beyond the stereotypical, is too large for the courts to fathom. In the eyes of the court, as a gay father or mother, you are not the desired role model for your children.  As a practicing CD you will lose a custody battle with your straight spouse.  In the past, court decisions in Title VII sexual discrimination cases have always been found in favor of a defendant if he is a white heterosexual male or represents a business consisting of this class.
But what is it that separates us as individuals from this stereotyping, it is how we perceive ourselves in our "Gender".  Gender is a more inclusive term than sex.  It is ones personal perception and social interaction of how we act and feel about our image. It is your status as a sexual person. This gives us a gender identity/role as described by Money in 1955.  It is everything that a person says and does to indicate to others or to self the degree that one is male or female or androgyne. This infers an erotic sexual preference for others, but it is no more a voluntary choice than learning your native language. Now we all know how far and wide gender can run among us. So to categorize us at this point would be foolish.  Gender expression lets us be who we want to be sexually, without being confined by our genitalia. Money also coined the terms gender transposition and gender dysphoria to explain the switching of attributes either temporarily in transvestitism or persistently in transsexualism.
 Gender Identity for homosexuals was first expressed in 1864 by Karl Heinrich Ulrichs, who explained that people like himself had a woman�s mind trapped in a man�s body. At that time a Berliner, K. M. Benkert (Kertbeny), coined the then pejorative term "homosexual" to advocate sex-law reform and criminalize the behavior.  Since then homosexuals have been continually arrested around the world.  When homosexuality was described as a pathologic deficiency, there was no room for a healthy expression of homosexuality or bisexuality as exhibited in the Athenian culture.  Attempts to explain the basis of homosexuality through hormonal manipulation or changes in the brain have so far been unsuccessful.
 The Feminist movement has used the concept of Gender Gap to strive for political emancipation, equal pay for equal work and male-bashing of the dominant power group. But in their attempt to regulate Pornography as debasing to women, they made an Unholy Alliance with the Evangelical Right, who worked to defeat the Equal Rights Amendment.  When you read the agenda of Concerned Women for America, you can understand that the real goal of the Evangelical Right is the submission of women to the will of their husbands, not emancipation. When you read the watchwords of Gary Bauer's, Family Research Council, "Family, Faith and Freedom", you know they are not talking about your Freedom. Or when you listen to Jerry Falwell's gay bashing quoting the "Word of our Lord", he is not talking about your Lord. But these Gender Cops are obvious and living at the periphery of power with a big microphone.
 Now here we are living in a country where the government has been playing a larger part in all our lives generally for the good of its citizens. But as the government and the courts acquire more power they have become increasingly involved in our sexual lives. In our society we would like to be viewed as individuals, but that is not the case today. Transsexuals usually do not want to be considered homosexuals nor do Transvestites want to be considered homosexuals. Male Cross-dressers do not want to be considered homosexuals even if they are sexually attracted to men on occasion.  Bisexuals do not want to be considered homosexual when they are in a heterosexual relationship. But the courts do not recognize these distinctions and to them we are all homosexual.  You may be denied your HRT by the court while in jail unless you actively threaten suicide. Annie Woodhouse clearly explains the distinctions as follows: "In many respects the difference between the transvestite and the transsexual lie with their own perceptions and definitions of self: whether they consider themselves "real women" or whether they see cross-dressing as an end in itself which allows partial entry in the world of femininity�. Oh, we all know that, but the courts have not accepted that definition in any case.
 So who are today's Gender Cops. First and foremost is your boss or supervisor at work, who insists that your work clothes conform to standard gender norms. If these are codified somewhere that men should wear ties and pants with no makeup and women should wear blouses and skirts with makeup, you court dismissal by not adhering.  Take the pre-op transsexual at Boeing, who thought she understood the code until she wore pink pearls with her pants. She was dismissed and lost in court.
 Next are the malls and offices that do not provide any unisex bathrooms.  The necessity of gender segregated bathrooms is written into every municipal building code.  Many a transsexual has been told that they may not use either of the sex segregated bathrooms for fear of offending their colleagues.  Many a transsexual has been dismissed from their job because of the supposed infraction.  Women also have long lines at sporting facilities, because more men attend games than women, and therefore are adequately provided for.  How is it that co-ed college dorms had it right ten years ago? So if you see a handicapped bathroom or baby-changing bathroom head straight for the door.  There is no law against using it.
 Now the military has it's own set of gender police. Every macho officer feels it is his duty to protect his men from Sgt. Klinger, who will not fight when called upon or will betray his mission to another homosexual.
You will be discharged if you reveal your true status. The new rule is "Don�t ask, don't tell and disavow if asked."  This is not likely to change with the current Republican Congress. We all vote, don't we? There is one government agency where you cannot be discriminated against in employment or working conditions on the basis of "sexual orientation". That is the Veterans� Administration.  Maybe this exists because they have to take care of all the people who have been discharged under current policy.  You figure it!
 Then there are the arbiters of behavior, who codify how you must sit and cross your legs depending on your projected sex.  I never will have that necessary pelvic tilt to properly cross my legs no matter what I remove.  Or do you look for certain body actions, which designate people as effeminate or homosexual.  Can you really tell?  Now, who are the gender police?  Are we our own Gender Cops?  There is no doubt that we have grown up in a world where gender norms were fixed, fashionable and instilled in our psyche.  If you saw the French movie "My Life in Pink", you will know where we should have been when we were growing up, fully aware of our transgendered feelings.  Admittedly we have waited until we felt secure enough to venture out on our own. The penalties for expressing ourselves in the past ranged from ostracism to demonization.  But as the climate grew more tolerant and liberal, more of us freed our feelings from our fears and outwardly expressed our femininity.
 And finally there are the leaders of gay organizations who will not let us share their stage because we just aren't gay enough. Why is it that we understand their years of discrimination and they do not understand our newly found voice? We must push for inclusion in laws which provide protection against discrimination on the basis of cross-dressing, sexual orientation and transition for transsexuals. Some of these all inclusive laws exist in a few communities. Let's push for more.  It is a noted accomplishment that the Gay Pride Jubilee to be held in Rome, Italy this year is for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people.  Luv Ya, Cerise