In Chapter 4, I really admired Fausto-Sterling because she presented her proposal for a five-sex system, one more encompassing for intersex individuals, while mentioning the controversy that surrounds her idea. She respects those who criticize her idea and accepts all of the comments she received in stride, pleasantly surprised by the conversations her proposal sparked, regardless of others agreed with her. She even writes on page 110 that she has changed her mind from discrete categories determined by genitals to a view closer to that of Suzanne Kessler, one which does not require specific “identification” and instead provides an all-encompassing and equitable sense of belonging to all humans. Fausto-Sterling is demonstrating flexibility both in her conception of how sex should exist in society and in her openness to considering other perspectives and reevaluating her own theories. I also find her idealistic reconceptions of society heartening. Instead of remaining confined by current social constructs, she is asking “What if the world/country worked in different way?”
I hadn’t heard of the International Bill of Gender Rights before reading Chapter 4 and when I looked at it, I found it comparable to Baumgardner and Richards’ Third Wave Manifesta. I have linked the IBGR to this post so you can check it out. The purpose and effect of the document states that “the ten rights enunciated below are not to be viewed as special rights applicable to a particular interest group . . . [rather] all ten sections of the IBGR are universal rights which can be claimed and exercised by every human being regardless of their sex or gender.” This corresponds well with Kessler’s, and now Fausto-Sterling’s, conceptions of unauthoratative and navigable (for individuals who are exploring how they identify sexually) conceptions of sex.
International Bill of Gender Rights
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