Archive for June, 2010

Iconic Image of the Bearded Lady

In August of 2009 I started a new Masters program in Psychology with an emphasis on Marriage, Family Therapy. To say that transitioning from a Masters program in Sexuality Studies to Psychology has been different is like saying sharks and the fish currently in my living room losing scales is different. Recently I came across a class meeting that really irked me. I mean, really irked me. I was a bit stunned mixed with livid. We were discussing gender in terms of adolescent development and someone raised their hand and brought up a long-winded and meaningless story about a “hermaphrodite” they once knew. I immediately said out loud, “you mean intersex,” but no one paid attention. The professor then went on to explain that “hermaphrodites” are fascinating in terms of gender and society, mind you, not correcting the use of that term. I raised my hand and said, “People who happen to be intersex are often met with discrimination, you’re right.” I was trying to go for the more subtle approach in correcting my professor. This was glossed over. The professor then said, “do you know what occupation a lot of hermaphrodites end up in? do you? The circus. Yeah, that’s right, the circus. I don’t remember the statistics but its something like 50% of them. It’s because thats the only place they aren’t met with discrimination.” The students nodded and wrote this down.

After a bit of grumbling and gasping I explained that this was totally untrue and that she was confusing people who are intersex with the guy who wears a half gown and half tuxedo (who’s just a performer, by the way) and stated that “hermaphrodite” is really the wrong terminology to use. But I felt like I didn’t explain enough. In all honesty, I was too amazed by the absurdity of it all to battle this out right away. This is something I’d like to get better at. Below is the letter I wrote to my professor explaining why what she had said in class was incredibly incorrect and continues the discrimination against people who happen to be intersex. Thanks to this email, the professor spent the first 15-20 minutes of the next class apologizing to the students for what she had said. She then went on to give an explanation as to why she was wrong, and a history on discrimination towards these people. Please enjoy my letter and comment below if you feel like I said anything in error or left something important out.

Keep in mind, I had decided that the best way for me to approach this letter was to acknowledge that she was not trying to be malicious when she said these things in class, but to inform her that what she said was not helping in the slightest.

_________________________________

Hello Dr. [name removed],

I have truly been enjoying our class and the reading, however I wanted to send you a note after our class on Monday wherein you referred to intersex individuals as “hermaphrodites” and stated that 50% of these individuals end up working in the circus because this was the only place they could find work. As someone who recently finished his Masters degree in Sexuality Studies and works for the rights of others in sexual minorities, I want to say that I appreciate your intention to express the discrimination that intersex individuals are met with. However, I wanted to bring up a few points that I felt needed to be addressed.

While the term “hermaphrodite” was generally accepted in academia and the medical community for quite some time, it is an inaccurate term that is entirely offensive (and I want to make it absolutely clear that in no way did I believe you were trying to be offensive). Hermaphrodite is a mythological term for someone who has both male and female sex organs, which is physically impossible. Intersex refers to the ambiguity not only of genitals but also regarding internal genitalia, sex chromosomes and hormones. Disorders of Sex Development (DSD) is currently the most accepted terminology in the medical community, but “disorder” is never a nice word. We often want to avoid labeling someone as one thing, which then ignores the full embodiment of this persons life and personality. The organization Intersex Society of North America offers a great FAQ section wherein they address the difference between hermaphrodite and intersex.

Also, you claimed that 50% of individuals who are intersex work in the circus, as a form of last resort employment. While I understand where you were coming from in this statement, that individuals who happen to be intersex are discriminated against and persecuted to the point where they are left to profit off of their disorder. However, a majority of individuals who are intersex rarely look different from someone who is not intersex. They may exhibit some androgynous qualities, but the circus statement conjures up images of the bearded woman. Why I bring this up is I am concerned as to how the students took in this information. I am afraid that they will continue to view intersex individuals as just being bearded women, without understanding the intricacies of this disorder. I fear that if they have a client who outs themself as intersex their first reaction will be, “a hermaphrodite?! How’d you get out of the circus?!”

Furthermore, the true tragedy of intersex is not the disorder itself, but how these individuals are treated by medical professionals. Many of these people are treated like a freak show by doctors, surgeons and researchers where they are subjected to invasive, traumatic genital surgeries and photo documentation.

The wonderful thing about academia and science is that it is constantly evolving, and hopefully in a way that benefits individuals, rather than continuing to hurt them. The term “hermaphrodite” changing to intersex, is a great example of this evolution. Not only does it open the doors towards acceptance, reducing the impact of “othering,” it also creates a discussion in the medical community on how best to treat such individuals. Treatment, which should not immediately (if at all) include sex reassignment surgery and hormone therapy before puberty. For this type of treatment is largely based on fitting individuals into a binary of male or female rather than accepting (as many other cultures have) that gender identity can be fluid and ever-changing.

Once again, I want to be very clear that in no way did I think you were intentionally trying to be dismissive of intersex individuals, I rather appreciate your intention to even bring up this topic in the discussion of gender. Bringing up intersex individuals opens a pandoras box of sorts that leads to a never ending debate involving what aspects of gender are socially constructed, how the binary of male and female is not good enough (See Anne Fausto-Sterling’s book “Sexing the Body“), medicalization of bodies (Foucault) and so on.

I truly wanted to use this as an opportunity to create a discussion around gender, sexuality, medicalization of bodies, etc. Below are some resources that you may find interesting:

Intersex Society of North America
Cheryl Chase, creator of ISNA
Accord Alliance

Thank you again for taking the time to read this and making me feel comfortable enough to approach you with this email.

All the best,
David Khalili

Taxis are everywhere in Dubai

After going to the top of the Burj Khalifa and walking around in the heat I just wanted to get to the hotel and wash off the sand and scent of Fendi. At the Dubai Mall I grabbed a taxi instead of taking the metro  in order to get to the hotel as soon as humanly possible. The taxi driver was stone faced and quiet, after a few moments I asked him how his day was. He explained that he had just been at the Dubai Mall to buy gifts for family and was just starting his shift. To be honest, he seemed a tad bitter at this form of small talk. I started my conversation with him because I wanted to hear about his experience as a taxi driver in Dubai. For some reason I decided that the best way to start this discussion was to tell him how taxis work in America. “In America the taxi drivers pay a certain amount at the beginning of their shift and then they keep the rest of the money they make from the shift.” He nodded, “that’s a good system to have,” almost saying this through gritted teeth. I asked him how the taxi system in Dubai worked. He looked at me in the rear view mirror from behind his sunglasses and simply said, “it’s fucked up, sir.” I wasn’t exactly expecting that sort of blunt response. “If I do a taxi drive for 40 dirhams, I give the company 40 dirhams. If I do 1000 dirhams, I give them 1000 dirhams. They give me a small wage but that is just enough to eat,” putting his hand to his mouth simulating eating. “They fine us for anything. Going over the speed limit, they know and fine us. Being late, they fine us. Anything. Last year they fined me 20,000 dirhams from my paycheck” which is roughly $5,500 USD. I didn’t exactly feel comfortable enough with him to ask what he makes a year, but I have read in different places that a taxi driver makes roughly $400-1000 a month in Dubai. I was starting to feel like a real asshole after explaining to him how the taxi system works in America.

He explained to me that the entire system is in shambles. If he has a complaint he has no idea where to go. When he talks to “quality control” they give him no information, when he asks who they report to they say they don’t know. However, they are always quick to fine him. He and other taxi drivers I talked to mentioned that they drive nice cars, wear a uniform that resembles a military outfit being that it is very crisp, and has epaulets. One taxi driver told me that he had always dreamed of joining the military in Pakistan, but because of an illness he was unable to join. He went on to say, “God chose for me not to be in the military, but to be a taxi driver. At least I have these,” and pointed to the epaulet on his shoulder, laughing nervously.

The stone faced taxi driver continued explaining that last year an Australian man was looking to buy the taxi system from the government. Oh right, did I mention that the taxi’s are controlled by the government of Dubai? Well they are, and this leads to even more problems. This man was going to revamp the cars, equip them with more up to date GPS systems and so on. However, at the last moment when the man insisted that he would select the new management the government of Dubai quickly pulled back from the offer and it was never spoken of again.

“What’s your schedule like?” I asked this to a few taxi drivers and they all had the same response. They sighed and said, “12 hours a day, 7 days a week. If I’m sick, too bad. I still have to work. If I want the day off because I am sick or to see family, I have to pay the company. I lose money from not working and I have to pay them on top of that.”

I asked the stone faced driver if he came to Dubai from Pakistan to work as a taxi driver. He nodded, “I was promised a great job, lots of money. My plan was to save money, send to my family and have money when I go back to Pakistan.” Which led to my next question, “When do you plan on going back to Pakistan?” Another sigh, “When you start this job after coming into the country they take your passport. They have my passport. When they have that, they have a remote control of you. Whatever they say, you do, because all you want is your passport back so you can leave this place. I want to see my family again.” A few years back I had read an article on construction workers in Dubai who were sent in from various countries, all of them had their passports taken from them when they started the job and it was almost impossible to get it back. I had no idea that they did this for other members of the working class. The taxi driver continued, “We are allowed to ask to resign once every six months. I have asked three times and each time they rejected my request,” another sigh, “I just asked a month ago, now I have to wait another 5 months.” These men are indentured servants. Make no mistake.

Learning all of this left me stunned. In a city where wealth and opulence is falling out of peoples asses, where every mall has stores that sell $10,000 cell phones, Fendi and Cartier, where there are numerous “worlds biggest” such and such, there is also a tremendous amount of devastating poverty. All of this poverty obviously being created in order to keep the wealthy incredibly rich. With Dubai’s economy continuing to fail, there is even less hope for these taxi drivers to make the amount of money they were promised. But hopefully if it completely fails they will then be allowed to go back home.