Rod cites
> >BALTIMORE (AP) - The practice of surgically ``reassigning'' boys born
> >without penises is
> >being called into question by a new study that suggests gender identity
> >is determined in the
> >womb.
>
> >Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Hospital on Friday said the study
> >found that such boys,
> >raised as girls, had masculine behavior and most declared themselves to
> >be boys.
>
Mine responds,
> actually, this is falsified by other studies.
Few will deny the role socialization plays in many aspects of our lives,
but tell us what studies have come forward challenging the specific
point made above, that surgically removing the penis and raising the
boy as a girl will NOT alter the fact that the boy still feels like a boy.
Mine goes one, without citing any sources:
Many studies prove that
> there is no necessary relationship between your biological identity and
> gender identity. If you are born with a penis, you may develop a different
> identity through time, so you don't need to be born without a penis to
> see how you develop a masculine identity.
This is a play on the words "necessary" and "different identity".
Obviously what we understand by "masculine" identity has changed over
time, particularly in the last few decades due, in part, to the
enormous achievements of the feminist movement. But the issue here is
whether males and females can be 1) distinguished in terms of their
sex characteristics and 2) whether such characteristics have an
effect on their behavior.
