Cultural factors play an important role in a person’s sexual orientation and gender identity, yet such influences may have a negative effect. For instance, many people tend to classify others as either female or male depending on their birth gender and treat them accordingly throughout their lives (Spielman et al., 2020). However, the cases such as that of David Reimer demonstrate that an individual’s gender identity and sexual orientation are more complicated than traditional binary views. David Reimer was an intersex person who was born as a boy, but his testicles were removed soon after he was born due to health problems (Spielman et al., 2020). The parents tried to raise the baby as a girl, yet it was difficult for the child to identify as a female (Spielman et al., 2020). Eventually, David realized that he was a male and wished to continue living as one (Spielman et al., 2020). Consequently, David Reimer’s story suggests that such cultural factors as how gender is perceived and treated in a community cannot define an individual’s identity but can rather force them to hide who they are.
Furthermore, a person who is intersexed has to deal with several cultural and emotional issues. First, despite many people being intersexed, they are quite frequently neglected by society or discriminated against when noticed (TEDx Talks, 2019). For example, intersex babies are likely to be operated on without consent and with no medical need because of cultures that recognize individuals only as male or female (TEDx Talks, 2019). Second, intersex individuals are typically told to keep their identity secret, which may cause them to feel ashamed of who they are (TEDx Talks, 2019). Moreover, society often reinforces a certain gender on intersex people to accept a personality that does not correspond with theirs (TEDx Talks, 2019). Accordingly, a person who is intersexed is usually put in a box of cultural prejudices, which cause negative emotions.
References
Spielman, R. M., Jenkins, W. J., & Lovett, M. D. (2020). Psychology. OpenStax.
TEDx Talks. (2019). A different kind of superpower: what it means to be intersex [Video]. YouTube. Web.