Gender and Sex

Before starting this course I was vaguely aware of the difference between gender and sex. I knew there was a difference but probably couldn't formulate a definitive answer on the difference. Now I can begin to fully understand and appreciate the difference. I can see that there are so many different genders in the world and none of them seems any easier to deal with than the other, meaning there are still so many questions associated with each gender. I am willing to keep all this in mind as we tackle the subject of Latin America as the course progresses The first week of class has been quite enlightening for me. Due to the fact that our opinions are shaped by our socialization, (family, religion, etc...) and the fact that I grew up here in east Tennessee with white middle class, southern Baptist parents I have had a fairly closed minded upbringing. Taking that into consideration when I formulate my responses to the readings and class discussions I would like to consider myself fairly open to new peoples and thoughts. The subject of Caster Semenya is interesting to me and as a woman I wonder if the tables were turned would it matter. At birth, especially in America if parents are presented with such a situation they are given a choice, to avoid later social conflicts. Caster’s parents made the choice of female and raised their daughter as such. During the Olympic testing it was discovered that Caster had high levels of testosterone and I wonder that if she hadn’t been beating the pants off of everyone would further testing have been done or the results of the original testing even mattered to anyone. She was raised female and was competing in the female races and it is my opinion that is where she should be and where she should be competing. If any other country had such a chance of winning would they not take full advantage of that? What about the girls in gymnastics? It is highly speculated that some of the girls of other countries don’t actually meet the age requirements. Does anyone pursue that further? What about all the steroid use? Is this case not the same as that? And yet in this case it seems that the world is concerned with only upsetting the delicate social balance set forth by generations of closed minded people without a clue of the actual meaning of gender or sex.