Film Review: "Middle Sexes: Redefining He and She"

The 2005 HBO documentary Middle Sexes: Redefining He and She demonstrates that gender and sexual identities are natural and not choices that people make. The film makes this argument by showing intersex and transgender people throughout the world and explaining the biological basis behind gender variances. One of the documentary’s most convincing arguments is when they show eight-year-old Noah. Noah prefers dancing, fashion, and girls’ clothing instead of things that boys are usually interested in, like sports or video games. His family says they have tried to discourage these tendencies, but Noah always goes back to the girl activities that he enjoys. His experiences reminded me of the film clip “Reteaching Gender and Sexuality”, in which Seattle youth encourage communities to rethink the way their teach sexuality and gender. In the clip, the young adults say they are “so over” being questioned about their gender and that their “identity cannot be summed up in letters”. Noah speaks similarly to these ideas, claiming that he is tired of being asked if he is a girl or a boy by his classmates. He is an example that intersexuality is natural, because his family says they did nothing to “make” him this way and he has acted feminine since he was first able to express himself.

Another way the film expresses that intersexuality is natural is through showing Max, who was dubbed a female at birth but had ambiguous genitalia. Throughout his life, Max (named “Judy” at birth) felt out-of-place in society. Judy fell in love with a woman, so she accredited her confusion to lesbianism. Even with a solid relationship with her partner, Judy still felt uncertain about her life, and she eventually decided this was because she was incorrectly labeled female. Max now lives much happier with his wife and their daughter. Max’s confusion but eventual resolution confirms that not everyone naturally falls into the designated categories male or female.

The biological background regarding intersexuality is also a strong point of Middle Sexes: Redefining He and She. Reading Anne Fausto-Sterling’s article “The Five Sexes: Why Male and Female Are Not Enough” helped me understand this part of the movie. Science identifies male chromosomes as XY and female chromosomes as XX (Fausto-Sterling 22). Both the film and Fausto-Sterling’s article point out, however, that these chromosomes don’t always match one’s external genitalia or their hormones, causing confusion when one doesn’t fall directly into male or female categories (Fausto-Sterling 22). The movie also claims that some people also have XY/XO or XYY chromosomes. These biological foundations reaffirm the film’s basis that intersexuality is natural.

I found the documentary’s examples of animal intersexuality to be less convincing. The narrator claimed that sexuality is a human construct that animals don’t necessarily have, because they tend to focus on pleasure instead of life-partners. It felt like the movie was stretching too far to attempt to prove the naturalness of intersexuality.

The film relates to Sociology 360 in many ways. In general, people in-between sexes or sexualities are people that are labeled deviant in America because of their differences to mainstream society. The film also conveys the idea that varying societies place different value judgments on characteristics; even though intersexuality is considered deviant in America, for example, it is viewed positively in some areas in Africa or Thailand.

The end of Middle Sexes: Redefining He and She particularly stood out for me. Sixty-four heterosexual college men were dubbed homophobic or non-homophobic after taking a survey at the University of Georgia in 1996. The two groups were each subjected to gay porn while their arousal levels were measured. Half of the homophobic men became aroused at the porn, though denying it, while the non-homophobic men showed few signs of arousal. This brings up a question regarding what it is exactly that some Americans fear so greatly about homosexuality; are they afraid of something they see within themselves? More research could be studied regarding this by collecting a larger random sample of at least 500 heterosexual men of various ages across America. The procedures would include the same pre-porn survey to determine a lack or presence of homophobia, as well as an arousal measure when watching gay porn. This research study could provide more information about the meanings behind homophobia.

Word Count: 712

Works Cited

Fausto-Sterling, Anne. "The Five Sexes: Why Male and Female Are Not Enough." The Sciences March/April (1993): 20-25. Print.

Middle Sexes: Redefining He and She. Dir. Antony Thomas. Deep Stealth Productions, 2005. DVD.