Sex Therapy
I’m halfway through my intensive course and I really like it even if class does go all day. My teacher is really cool and class is pretty laid back. We’ve learned about hormone problems that effect fetuses. One that really surprised me is a hormone imbalance that causes male babies to be born with a shallow (false) vagina and a penis so small that it is mistaken for a large clitoris. So everyone just assumes the child is a girl until the guy hits puberty and the vagina goes away and the penis grows. The book was pretty optimistic about the psychological outcome of cases like this which I don’t understand. I think the child would find suddenly growing a penis a little upsetting.
I also found out that birth control wasn’t legal in the States til 1964 which might explain why I have so many uncles. But even then it was only legally prescribed to married couples. Single women couldn’t get birth control til 1978. I am continuously surprised by advances that I take for granted just because they’ve been around since I was born.
The downside of the short course is that I’m exhausted. I finally gave up today and started a caffeine regiment. I’ll fall asleep in class without it and once it wears off the chest pains will also serve to keep me awake so its a win-win. Joel will be here in two days and then vacation!
June 4, 2009 at 4:09 pm
if you haven’t read the book Middlesex by Jeffery Eugenides, you should. the protagonist suffers from a similar ambiguous gender disorder (i can’t remember the name) as you describe here. plus, the book is terrific.
regarding birth control, condoms have been widely available in the US since the 1930s. i assume you’re talking about “the pill” here, which was invented around 1960 and was available in the US starting around 1961 in many states. 1964 simply saw the federal law passed that stopped some states from banning it.
i have to say, i am constantly unsurprised by this stuff. history shows us that today’s hard-fought moral battles will undoubtedly be the things that make us scratch our heads thirty years from now and ask “how were people ever against this?” but we’ll have forgotten by then that we were the people that were against it. the examples are almost limitless: slavery, voting rights of women and minorities, birth control, women’s right to equal pay and treatment in the workplace, primary care-giving right of fathers, gay rights, etc.
can you imagine how absurd “don’t ask, don’t tell” is going to look to us in thrity years or so? in fact, it still does not violate federal civil right’s law to discriminate by unfair treatment regarding gender stereotypes: http://www.slate.com/id/2219695/
June 4, 2009 at 4:12 pm
also, i love coffee. chest pains will pass.