sex, gender and sexuality

In honor of the recent decision to make gay marriage legal in California, I figured I would post about sex, gender and sexuality. I'm not sure if anybody told you, but they are not real. People have made them up, named them, in order to better identify things they have trouble understanding. It's an all to common phenomenon. So, let's start with sex, as in male and female. But it's not just male and female. There are at least five different sexes. You have probably heard of hermaphrodite, and that's one of them. There are mermaphrodites and fermaphrodites, too! Plus, you hear about all this testosterone and estrogen flying around making you more masculine or feminine. Honestly, men and women have nearly equal amounts of it. It's only during puberty that levels may change dramatically. And chromosomes, you know like XX and XY. Well there are dozens of different combinations available for those. Like XXY, XXXY, XYY, even mosaics. Someone with mosaic chromosomes mean that every time you take a sample of their DNA, a different combination appears. Having these chromosome combinations actually is not very rare at all, it is entirely possible and probable that you know some people with one of them. Most of them are insubstantial and cannot be detected by the naked eye, which is why you have no idea about it. Homosexual is a word that was created about 150 years ago. Yes, it is true that some people are attracted more to the same sex or some people are attracted to both sexes, but it is so prude to consider it deviant. Before people gave it a name and decided it was something "the other" does, same sex relations was considered pretty normal. Way back when, in Ancient Greece or somethin', sex between two men was called "heavenly sex". Okay, that sounds kind of cheesy and you might chuckle at it, but it still goes to show their view of it. And when you think about it, it makes sense for it to be so revered. First of all, people of your own sex know more about your body and the way it works compared to the opposite sex (or sexes, as mentioned before). Plus, people are so caught up in vaginal intercourse, as it is the end all of sexual pleasure. It's not. Not necessarily, at least. Given the four most sensitive areas on each sex (which I will not list here for fear of some blogger police rapping me on the knuckles and tut tutting), it probably gets 3.5/5 stars on the richter scale. Haha, richter scale, I made a funny. Okay, if that made you blush, have no fear because we are moving on to the topic of gender. Gender is how you are supposed to act given your sex. You are a boy, so you like blue and play with toy trucks. You are a girl, so you like pink and play with dolls. This is how we are raised and taught to behave from the moment we are born. Ever wonder what you would be like if you had been encouraged to rough house, as opposed to play house, with your friends? Or vice versa? Or both? Females acting feminine and males acting masculine is not how it is done all over the world. It just happens in our neck of the woods because that is the norm for raising children. There are groups of people where both men and women are incredibly aggressive, but equally aggressive nonetheless. There is another group of people that encourages passive, peaceful behavior in both sexes. In some parts of the world, women are aggressive, hunt for food and lead the group, while the men take care of the children and gossip by the river. No joke. This just goes to show that aggressive (male) behavior and peaceful (female) behavior is not mapped out in our genetics. It is not as if we are born as male or female and destined for a personality depending on that sex. It is a bit liberating, isn't it? I mean, now that you know that none of it is real, that it is all a social construction, don't you feel a little more comfortable just being yourself? I myself don't really think of myself in terms of sex, gender and sexuality. I just am, and I do what feels right. These names, labels, are just restricting. You subject yourself to one and you feel obliged to fit it completely. So just be yourself. Here is a quote from Futurama that I think ties this all up quite well:
(Amy is trying to find a guy for Leela, like this ball of energy)
Amy: This is M5438, an entity of pure energy.
Leela: That's great really, but he's just not what I'm looking for.
M5438: (nerdy voice) I understand. One day you will evolve beyond your physical body, and on that day I hope you will pick up the phone.