I've been fascinated with many speculative fiction themes and gender is one of the main ones. I think I'm drawn to spec fic because it ponders the What If... question. Good spec fic takes our present day humanity and weaves a possible answer. Well, What If... you were neither? Or both? Or inbetween? (I'm not a spec fic writer and don't have any answers, possible or otherwise, so don't look at me.)
I have a biological science background; one of the courses I took at university was Cytogenetics. I learnt about Klinefelters syndrome and androgen insensitivity syndrome, and I've known of a couple of people who've transgendered. I find this... this... gender binary(?) topic really really fascinating.
Not fascinating in a let's all observe them in a glass petri dish kind of way. I mean how will society react? How will we eventually treat these people? What does it mean about our assumptions up to now?
Caster Semenya -- the runner from South Africa -- apparently has three times the normal level of testosterone for a female and has undergone genetic testing. Even though the headlines scream that she's an hermaphrodite, I think her story will be that she has Androgen insensitivity syndrome. (Imagine finding out in the media that you are genetically the 'opposite' sex...?)
As a whole, I think we've become more comfortable with homosexuality, I think this topic will be next.
Perhaps things aren't so binary after all.
No comments:
Post a Comment