The Riddle of Gender - Deborah Rudacille [170]
In addition to McLachlan, the DES sons gained another powerful scientific advocate last year in Milton Diamond, the University of Hawaii professor best known for his revelation of the tragic outcome of the David Reimer case. When I spoke to Diamond in 2002, he was cautious in discussing the possible “gender-bending” effects of DES. Kerlin’s data has apparently convinced him that the topic is worth investigating; he nominated Kerlin’s paper for presentation at the International Behavioral Development Symposium held in Minot, North Dakota, in August 2005.
Kerlin was unable to attend so Dana Beyer, co-moderator of the DES Sons Network, presented the results to an audience that included most of the big guns of gender research, including many who still subscribe to the view that MTF transsexuals are self-hating homosexuals or “autogynephiliacs”—men sexually aroused by the thought of themselves as women. “While I received the usual criticisms from the usual suspects, the junior scientists were very appreciative of the data and were cognizant of its significance,” says Beyer. “The younger researchers seem to be accepting the increasing evidence that transsexu-alism is simply a form of intersex, where brain sex is incongruent with genital sex. It’s a slow process, but it’s picking up steam.”
Unsurprisingly, evidence that transsexualism may be associated with exposure to DES and environmental chemicals is welcomed by some transsexual and transgendered people, and viewed with alarm by others. Jay Sennett, a trans filmmaker and activist whom I met at my first True Spirit conference and who encouraged me to work on this book at a time when I was doubting my right to do so, expressed both points of view in a recent e-mail conversation. “I don’t want my people used in a fear campaign to reduce EDCs,” he says. On the other hand, given the widespread perception that transsexualism is a mental illness, data pointing to a correlation between transsexualism and EDCs may provide relief from the stigma. “Any proven biological component assuages the ick factor,” he says.
His major concern is how the media will “manipulate” such information. “Given the science phobia that is part and parcel of U. S. culture,” he says, “combined with ignorance/fear of transsexualism,” a media campaign that stokes fears of transsexualism as a way of calling attention to the problem of environmental degradation is almost inevitable. “Stem the rise of transsexualism by cleaning up the environment—given the utter ignorance of science among popular media, I fear such a campaign might arise as a response to legislate/push for environmental clean-up.”
Sennett’s concerns about how the media, public, and health care providers will respond to any linkage between EDCs and transsexualism are connected to the larger issue of how biology intersects with culture in the lives of transgendered people. “Biology remains a strenuous dance partner for transsexual people,” he says. “Sometimes she makes us look really good and other times it takes all we can do to keep from stepping on her feet.” He rues the “fix it” mindset he has encountered from some health care professionals, “with all the concomitant patronizing and condescending attitudes,” that go along with it—yet, he admits that he has also received caring and compassionate treatment. The bottom line, he says, is that as a transman “I cannot live without these ‘biological’ artifacts,” like hormone therapy. “Unless the testosterone becomes available over the counter, I’m living with these people for the rest of my life.”
Sennett is deeply interested in science and technology, and on his blog often discusses provocative issues like the transsexual person as a kind of cyborg, a fusion of nature and technology. Unlike Janice Raymond and other critics of transsexualism, he doesn’t view the technological artifice of the transsexual body as a negative but as something to be celebrated. Even the possibility that EDCs are creating more transsexual and