Category Archives: Biology of Gender

Artifact 2, Biology of Gender

Artifact 2: The forgotten gender

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The Khawaja sara is the politically correct name for transgendered women in Pakistan. Although they are officially recognized as a third sex and enjoy better treatment than gay men in the country, who are often murdered or imprisoned, they still face daily discrimination and harassment.

During the era of the Mughals in the 1500’s and 1600’s Khawaja sara were army generals, harem managers, and royal court officials. However, when the highly conservative and Christian, British colonized Pakistan they took away the rights that transgendered individuals had. Under British rule the Khawaja sara where seen as indecent and their existence was outlawed by the Criminal Tribes Act (1871). This law placed the Khawaja sara under compulsory registration, strict monitoring, and deep rooted social stigma that has persisted till today. Fortunately for the Khawaja sara the Pakistani Supreme Court officially recognized the third gender in 2009. Transgendered individuals now have a separate identifier on their ID’s and are allowed to vote. Interestingly, and unfortunately transgendered men do not share these same rights in Pakistan, and although they should still technically be able to register as transgendered none have attempted this so far.

To this day Khawaja sara face discrimination. They are often harassed in public and made fun of because many in Pakistan believe that their only use is as sex workers or as beggers. They also face violence and there is little that they can do legally as the court system does little to protect them even though they have officially become recognized.

Biology of Gender

Artifact 1 Unfair Gender Expectations

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Sex and gender vary in that sex is a combination of an individual’s bodily characteristics, where gender “describes the characteristics that a society or culture delineates as masculine or feminine.” Sex is something that an individual is given at birth, while gender is something that an individual identifies as normally by age 5. Gender however, is not something than an individual decides upon, instead is based upon ideals of what masculinity and femininity is in their culture and how they themselves fit into the social system.

In western culture masculinity has traditionally been associated with being a leader, being stronger, rough housing, and being able to solve problems. Femininity is traditionally associated with being pretty, being graceful, and supporting their masculine counterparts. Blue is supposed to be a boy color and pink is supposedly a girl color. Traditionally not fitting into these gender molds was considered wrong. However as younger generations are becoming more able to accept we now know that many individuals, all across the gender spectrum, do not fit into these molds.

These traditional gender roles tell young boys that they can grow up to be anything. Their supposed to grow up to be big and strong, where girls are brought up in a culture that conditions them to want to play inside and grow up to be a housewife. Most girl’s toys are centered around a house, while boy’s toys typically are based around adventure or violence. Ken and Barbie have a house together while GI Joe and the Power Rangers are out fighting monsters and the forces of evil. Even in movies marketed to children we see that the male gender tends to have a dominant presence over the feminine characters. In movies like Mulan and Pocahontas, movies based around female heroes, male characters make up more than 75% of the dialogue. This subjugation of the female gender in society teaches young girls that they are somehow less important than the male gender. Society needs to place a larger emphasis on promoting positive feminine values, and quit viewing confidence as a bitchy trait, while expecting it from masculinity.

Help Received:
I got a definition for gender that I could quote from: http://www.med.monash.edu.au/gendermed/sexandgender.html