0:00:00.658,0:00:05.320 I want you to imagine two couples[br]in the middle of 1979 0:00:05.344,0:00:08.613 on the exact same day,[br]at the exact same moment, 0:00:08.637,0:00:10.919 each conceiving a baby, OK? 0:00:10.943,0:00:13.197 So two couples each conceiving one baby. 0:00:13.221,0:00:16.487 Now I don't want you to spend too[br]much time imagining the conception, 0:00:16.511,0:00:19.367 because if you do,[br]you're not going to listen to me, 0:00:19.391,0:00:21.202 so just imagine that for a moment. 0:00:21.226,0:00:25.400 And in this scenario,[br]I want to imagine that, in one case, 0:00:25.424,0:00:27.592 the sperm is carrying a Y chromosome, 0:00:27.616,0:00:29.647 meeting that X chromosome of the egg. 0:00:29.671,0:00:32.843 And in the other case,[br]the sperm is carrying an X chromosome, 0:00:32.867,0:00:35.134 meeting the X chromosome of the egg. 0:00:35.158,0:00:37.209 Both are viable; both take off. 0:00:37.747,0:00:39.795 We'll come back to these people later. 0:00:39.819,0:00:43.222 So I wear two hats in most of what I do. 0:00:43.874,0:00:47.073 As the one hat, I do history of anatomy. 0:00:47.097,0:00:50.976 I'm a historian by training,[br]and what I study in that case 0:00:51.000,0:00:53.586 is the way that people[br]have dealt with anatomy -- 0:00:53.610,0:00:56.240 meaning human bodies, animal bodies -- 0:00:56.264,0:00:58.976 how they dealt with bodily fluids,[br]concepts of bodies; 0:00:59.000,0:01:00.976 how have they thought about bodies. 0:01:01.733,0:01:05.689 The other hat that I've worn[br]in my work is as an activist, 0:01:05.713,0:01:07.569 as a patient advocate -- 0:01:07.593,0:01:09.976 or, as I sometimes say,[br]as an impatient advocate -- 0:01:10.000,0:01:12.237 for people who are patients of doctors. 0:01:12.261,0:01:15.976 In that case, what I've worked with[br]is people who have body types 0:01:16.000,0:01:17.915 that challenge social norms. 0:01:17.939,0:01:20.096 So some of what[br]I've worked on, for example, 0:01:20.120,0:01:22.167 is people who are conjoined twins -- 0:01:22.191,0:01:23.694 two people within one body. 0:01:24.240,0:01:26.960 Some of what I've worked on[br]is people who have dwarfism -- 0:01:26.984,0:01:29.268 so people who are much[br]shorter than typical. 0:01:29.292,0:01:33.314 And a lot of what I've worked on[br]is people who have atypical sex -- 0:01:33.338,0:01:37.366 so people who don't have the standard male[br]or the standard female body types. 0:01:37.390,0:01:40.976 And as a general term,[br]we can use the term "intersex" for this. 0:01:41.000,0:01:43.538 Intersex comes[br]in a lot of different forms. 0:01:43.562,0:01:46.976 I'll just give you a few examples[br]of the types of ways you can have sex 0:01:47.000,0:01:49.333 that isn't standard for male or female. 0:01:49.357,0:01:50.976 So in one instance, 0:01:51.000,0:01:54.436 you can have somebody[br]who has an XY chromosomal basis, 0:01:54.460,0:01:56.976 and that SRY gene on the Y chromosome 0:01:57.000,0:02:00.404 tells the proto-gonads,[br]which we all have in the fetal life, 0:02:00.428,0:02:01.612 to become testes. 0:02:01.636,0:02:04.758 So in the fetal life,[br]those testes are pumping out testosterone. 0:02:04.782,0:02:09.965 But because this individual[br]lacks receptors to hear that testosterone, 0:02:09.989,0:02:12.069 the body doesn't react[br]to the testosterone. 0:02:12.093,0:02:15.153 And this is a syndrome called[br]androgen insensitivity syndrome. 0:02:15.692,0:02:18.554 So lots of levels of testosterone,[br]but no reaction to it. 0:02:18.578,0:02:22.480 As a consequence, the body develops[br]more along the female typical path. 0:02:22.504,0:02:24.782 When the child is born,[br]she looks like a girl. 0:02:24.806,0:02:27.904 She is a girl, she is raised as a girl. 0:02:27.928,0:02:32.474 And it's often not until she hits puberty[br]and she's growing and developing breasts, 0:02:32.498,0:02:34.077 but she's not getting her period, 0:02:34.101,0:02:36.265 that somebody figures[br]out something's up here. 0:02:36.289,0:02:38.058 And they do some tests and figure out 0:02:38.082,0:02:40.559 that, instead of having[br]ovaries inside and a uterus, 0:02:40.583,0:02:43.029 she has testes inside,[br]and she has a Y chromosome. 0:02:43.053,0:02:44.744 Now what's important to understand 0:02:44.768,0:02:47.256 is you may think of this[br]person as really being male, 0:02:47.280,0:02:48.508 but they're really not. 0:02:48.532,0:02:50.596 Females, like males, 0:02:50.620,0:02:53.275 have in our bodies something[br]called the adrenal glands. 0:02:53.299,0:02:54.856 They're in the back of our body. 0:02:54.880,0:02:58.310 And the adrenal glands make androgens,[br]which are a masculinizing hormone. 0:02:58.334,0:03:01.435 Most females like me --[br]I believe myself to be a typical female -- 0:03:01.459,0:03:03.618 I don't actually know[br]my chromosomal make-up, 0:03:03.642,0:03:05.327 but I think I'm probably typical -- 0:03:05.351,0:03:07.833 most females like me[br]are actually androgen-sensitive. 0:03:07.857,0:03:10.578 We're making androgen,[br]and we're responding to androgens. 0:03:10.602,0:03:12.691 The consequence is that somebody like me 0:03:12.715,0:03:15.734 has actually had a brain[br]exposed to more androgens 0:03:15.758,0:03:19.140 than the woman born with testes[br]who has androgen insensitivity syndrome. 0:03:19.164,0:03:20.686 So sex is really complicated -- 0:03:20.710,0:03:22.354 it's not just that intersex people 0:03:22.378,0:03:24.455 are in the middle[br]of all the sex spectrum -- 0:03:24.479,0:03:26.576 in some ways,[br]they can be all over the place. 0:03:26.600,0:03:27.758 Another example: 0:03:27.782,0:03:30.687 a few years ago I got a call[br]from a man who was 19 years old, 0:03:30.711,0:03:32.574 who was born a boy, raised a boy, 0:03:32.598,0:03:35.183 had a girlfriend,[br]had sex with his girlfriend, 0:03:35.207,0:03:36.879 had a life as a guy, 0:03:36.903,0:03:40.000 and had just found out[br]that he had ovaries and a uterus inside. 0:03:40.529,0:03:42.281 What he had was an extreme form 0:03:42.305,0:03:44.986 of a condition called[br]congenital adrenal hyperplasia. 0:03:45.010,0:03:46.936 He had XX chromosomes, 0:03:46.960,0:03:50.699 and in the womb, his adrenal glands[br]were in such high gear 0:03:50.723,0:03:54.341 that it created, essentially,[br]a masculine hormonal environment. 0:03:54.365,0:03:56.903 And as a consequence,[br]his genitals were masculinized, 0:03:56.927,0:04:00.439 his brain was subject to the more typical[br]masculine component of hormones. 0:04:00.463,0:04:03.700 And he was born looking like a boy --[br]nobody suspected anything. 0:04:03.724,0:04:06.435 And it was only when he had[br]reached the age of 19 0:04:06.459,0:04:10.050 that he began to have enough medical[br]problems from menstruating internally, 0:04:10.074,0:04:13.446 that doctors figured out that, in fact,[br]he was female, internally. 0:04:13.934,0:04:17.468 OK, so just one more quick example[br]of a way you can have intersex. 0:04:17.492,0:04:21.371 Some people who have XX chromosomes[br]develop what are called ovotestis, 0:04:21.395,0:04:25.134 which is when you have ovarian tissue[br]with testicular tissue wrapped around it. 0:04:25.158,0:04:27.284 And we're not exactly sure[br]why that happens. 0:04:27.308,0:04:30.131 So sex can come[br]in lots of different varieties. 0:04:30.155,0:04:35.002 The reason that children[br]with these kinds of bodies -- 0:04:35.026,0:04:37.793 whether it's dwarfism,[br]or it's conjoined twinning, 0:04:37.817,0:04:39.143 or it's an intersex type -- 0:04:39.167,0:04:41.548 are often "normalized" by surgeons 0:04:41.572,0:04:45.612 is not because it actually leaves them[br]better off in terms of physical health. 0:04:45.636,0:04:48.618 In many cases, people are actually[br]perfectly healthy. 0:04:48.642,0:04:51.684 The reason they're often subject[br]to various kinds of surgeries 0:04:51.708,0:04:54.529 is because they threaten[br]our social categories. 0:04:54.553,0:04:57.322 Our system has been based[br]typically on the idea 0:04:57.346,0:05:00.676 that a particular kind of anatomy[br]comes with a particular identity. 0:05:00.700,0:05:03.303 So we have the concept[br]that what it means to be a woman 0:05:03.327,0:05:04.719 is to have a female identity; 0:05:04.743,0:05:08.976 what it means to be a black person[br]is, allegedly, to have an African anatomy 0:05:09.000,0:05:10.559 in terms of your history. 0:05:11.117,0:05:14.896 And so we have[br]this terribly simplistic idea. 0:05:14.920,0:05:16.553 And when we're faced with a body 0:05:16.577,0:05:19.511 that actually presents us[br]something quite different, 0:05:19.535,0:05:22.329 it startles us in terms[br]of those categorizations. 0:05:22.353,0:05:26.294 So we have a lot of very romantic ideas[br]in our culture about individualism. 0:05:26.318,0:05:29.959 And our nation's really founded on[br]a very romantic concept of individualism. 0:05:29.983,0:05:31.888 You can imagine how startling then it is 0:05:31.912,0:05:35.742 when you have children who are born[br]who are two people inside of one body. 0:05:36.271,0:05:40.274 Where I ran into the most heat[br]from this most recently 0:05:40.298,0:05:43.169 was last year when South African runner,[br]Caster Semenya, 0:05:43.193,0:05:46.748 had her sex called into question[br]at the International Games in Berlin. 0:05:46.772,0:05:49.596 I had a lot of journalists[br]calling me, asking me, 0:05:49.620,0:05:51.494 "Which is the test they're going to run 0:05:51.518,0:05:54.976 that will tell us whether or not[br]Caster Semenya is male or female?" 0:05:55.000,0:05:58.293 And I had to explain to the journalists[br]there isn't such a test. 0:05:58.317,0:06:02.168 In fact, we now know[br]that sex is complicated enough 0:06:02.192,0:06:03.926 that we have to admit: 0:06:03.950,0:06:07.639 Nature doesn't draw the line[br]for us between male and female, 0:06:07.663,0:06:10.572 or between male and intersex[br]and female and intersex; 0:06:10.596,0:06:12.671 we actually draw that line on nature. 0:06:13.192,0:06:17.859 So what we have is a sort of situation[br]where the farther our science goes, 0:06:17.883,0:06:20.819 the more we have to admit to ourselves[br]that these categories 0:06:20.843,0:06:23.530 that we thought of as stable[br]anatomical categories, 0:06:23.554,0:06:27.221 that mapped very simply[br]to stable identity categories 0:06:27.245,0:06:29.380 are a lot more fuzzy than we thought. 0:06:29.404,0:06:31.357 And it's not just in terms of sex. 0:06:31.381,0:06:32.976 It's also in terms of race, 0:06:33.000,0:06:35.416 which turns out to be[br]vastly more complicated 0:06:35.440,0:06:37.532 than our terminology has allowed. 0:06:37.556,0:06:40.648 As we look, we get into all sorts[br]of uncomfortable areas. 0:06:40.672,0:06:42.501 We look, for example, about the fact 0:06:42.525,0:06:46.837 that we share at least 95 percent[br]of our DNA with chimpanzees. 0:06:46.861,0:06:48.561 What are we to make of the fact 0:06:48.585,0:06:52.052 that we differ from them[br]only, really, by a few nucleotides? 0:06:52.076,0:06:54.519 And as we get farther[br]and farther with our science, 0:06:54.543,0:06:56.732 we get more and more[br]into a discomforted zone, 0:06:56.756,0:07:00.041 where we have to acknowledge[br]that the simplistic categories we've had 0:07:00.065,0:07:02.163 are probably overly simplistic. 0:07:02.663,0:07:06.274 So we're seeing this[br]in all sorts of places in human life. 0:07:06.298,0:07:08.503 One of the places[br]we're seeing it, for example, 0:07:08.527,0:07:10.541 in our culture,[br]in the United States today, 0:07:10.565,0:07:13.344 is battles over the beginning[br]of life and the end of life. 0:07:13.368,0:07:14.976 We have difficult conversations 0:07:15.000,0:07:18.139 about at what point we decide[br]a body becomes a human, 0:07:18.163,0:07:21.128 such that it has a different[br]right than a fetal life. 0:07:21.152,0:07:23.676 We have very difficult[br]conversations nowadays -- 0:07:23.700,0:07:26.449 probably not out in the open[br]as much as within medicine -- 0:07:26.473,0:07:28.722 about the question[br]of when somebody's dead. 0:07:28.746,0:07:31.373 In the past, our ancestors[br]never had to struggle so much 0:07:31.397,0:07:33.499 with this question[br]of when somebody was dead. 0:07:33.523,0:07:35.915 At most, they'd stick[br]a feather on somebody's nose, 0:07:35.939,0:07:38.083 and if it twitched,[br]they didn't bury them yet. 0:07:38.107,0:07:39.966 If it stopped twitching, you bury them. 0:07:39.990,0:07:41.426 But today, we have a situation 0:07:41.450,0:07:43.761 where we want to take[br]vital organs out of beings 0:07:43.785,0:07:45.369 and give them to other beings. 0:07:45.393,0:07:46.852 And as a consequence, 0:07:46.876,0:07:49.480 we have to struggle[br]with this really difficult question 0:07:49.504,0:07:51.139 about who's dead, 0:07:51.163,0:07:53.508 and this leads us[br]to a really difficult situation 0:07:53.532,0:07:56.508 where we don't have such simple[br]categories as we've had before. 0:07:56.532,0:07:59.643 Now you might think that all this[br]breaking-down of categories 0:07:59.667,0:08:01.653 would make somebody like me really happy. 0:08:01.677,0:08:04.729 I'm a political progressive,[br]I defend people with unusual bodies, 0:08:04.753,0:08:07.188 but I have to admit to you[br]that it makes me nervous. 0:08:07.212,0:08:08.902 Understanding that these categories 0:08:08.926,0:08:12.019 are really much more unstable[br]than we thought makes me tense. 0:08:12.043,0:08:15.296 It makes me tense from the point of view[br]of thinking about democracy. 0:08:15.320,0:08:17.476 So in order to tell you[br]about that tension, 0:08:17.500,0:08:20.617 I have to first admit to you[br]a huge fan of the Founding Fathers. 0:08:20.641,0:08:23.250 I know they were racists,[br]I know they were sexist, 0:08:23.274,0:08:24.447 but they were great. 0:08:24.471,0:08:29.585 I mean, they were so brave and so bold[br]and so radical in what they did, 0:08:29.609,0:08:34.079 that I find myself watching that cheesy[br]musical "1776" every few years, 0:08:34.103,0:08:37.107 and it's not because of the music,[br]which is totally forgettable. 0:08:37.131,0:08:40.469 It's because of what happened in 1776[br]with the Founding Fathers. 0:08:40.493,0:08:42.767 The Founding Fathers were,[br]for my point of view, 0:08:42.791,0:08:44.843 the original anatomical activists, 0:08:44.867,0:08:46.472 and this is why. 0:08:46.496,0:08:49.771 What they rejected[br]was an anatomical concept 0:08:49.795,0:08:51.331 and replaced it with another one 0:08:51.355,0:08:54.684 that was radical and beautiful[br]and held us for 200 years. 0:08:54.708,0:08:56.430 So as you all recall, 0:08:56.454,0:08:59.858 what our Founding Fathers were[br]rejecting was a concept of monarchy, 0:08:59.882,0:09:03.520 and the monarchy was basically based[br]on a very simplistic concept of anatomy. 0:09:03.544,0:09:07.183 The monarchs of the old world[br]didn't have a concept of DNA, 0:09:07.207,0:09:09.340 but they did have a concept of birthright. 0:09:09.364,0:09:11.036 They had a concept of blue blood. 0:09:11.060,0:09:14.243 They had the idea that the people[br]who would be in political power 0:09:14.267,0:09:17.444 should be in political power[br]because of the blood being passed down 0:09:17.468,0:09:21.142 from grandfather to father[br]to son and so forth. 0:09:21.794,0:09:24.162 The Founding Fathers rejected that idea, 0:09:24.186,0:09:26.837 and they replaced it[br]with a new anatomical concept, 0:09:26.861,0:09:30.694 and that concept[br]was "all men are created equal." 0:09:30.718,0:09:34.081 They leveled that playing field[br]and decided the anatomy that mattered 0:09:34.105,0:09:38.519 was the commonality of anatomy,[br]not the difference in anatomy, 0:09:38.543,0:09:41.087 and that was a really radical thing to do. 0:09:41.560,0:09:43.012 Now they were doing it in part 0:09:43.036,0:09:45.328 because they were part[br]of an Enlightenment system 0:09:45.352,0:09:47.361 where two things were growing up together. 0:09:47.385,0:09:49.653 And that was democracy growing up, 0:09:49.677,0:09:52.742 but it was also science[br]growing up at the same time. 0:09:52.766,0:09:56.245 And it's really clear, if you look[br]at the history of the Founding Fathers, 0:09:56.269,0:09:58.555 a lot of them were very[br]interested in science, 0:09:58.579,0:10:01.607 and they were interested[br]in the concept of a naturalistic world. 0:10:01.631,0:10:04.117 They were moving away[br]from supernatural explanations, 0:10:04.141,0:10:07.378 and they were rejecting things[br]like a supernatural concept of power, 0:10:07.402,0:10:11.457 where it transmitted because[br]of a very vague concept of birthright. 0:10:11.481,0:10:13.763 They were moving[br]towards a naturalistic concept. 0:10:13.787,0:10:16.842 And if you look, for example,[br]in the Declaration of Independence, 0:10:16.866,0:10:19.572 they talk about nature and nature's God. 0:10:19.596,0:10:21.785 They don't talk about God[br]and God's nature. 0:10:21.809,0:10:25.712 They're talking about the power of nature[br]to tell us who we are. 0:10:25.736,0:10:28.976 So as part of that,[br]they were coming to us with a concept 0:10:29.000,0:10:31.710 that was about anatomical commonality. 0:10:31.734,0:10:34.863 And in doing so, they were really[br]setting up in a beautiful way 0:10:34.887,0:10:36.800 the Civil Rights Movement of the future. 0:10:36.824,0:10:40.365 They didn't think of it that way,[br]but they did it for us, and it was great. 0:10:40.389,0:10:42.032 So what happened years afterwards? 0:10:42.056,0:10:45.498 What happened was women, for example,[br]who wanted the right to vote, 0:10:45.522,0:10:48.884 took the Founding Fathers' concept[br]of anatomical commonality 0:10:48.908,0:10:51.115 being more important[br]than anatomical difference 0:10:51.139,0:10:53.673 and said, "The fact that we have[br]a uterus and ovaries 0:10:53.697,0:10:56.460 is not significant enough[br]in terms of a difference 0:10:56.484,0:10:58.773 to mean that we shouldn't[br]have the right to vote, 0:10:58.797,0:11:02.479 the right to full citizenship,[br]the right to own property, etc." 0:11:02.503,0:11:04.555 And women successfully argued that. 0:11:04.579,0:11:06.976 Next came the successful[br]Civil Rights Movement, 0:11:07.000,0:11:09.119 where we found people like Sojourner Truth 0:11:09.143,0:11:11.412 talking about, "Ain't I a woman?" 0:11:11.436,0:11:15.381 We find men on the marching lines[br]of the Civil Rights Movement 0:11:15.405,0:11:16.755 saying, "I am a man." 0:11:16.779,0:11:21.176 Again, people of color[br]appealing to a commonality of anatomy 0:11:21.200,0:11:23.890 over a difference of anatomy,[br]again, successfully. 0:11:23.914,0:11:26.951 We see the same thing[br]with the disability rights movement. 0:11:27.292,0:11:29.450 The problem is, of course, 0:11:29.474,0:11:31.852 that, as we begin to look[br]at all that commonality, 0:11:31.876,0:11:35.301 we have to begin to question[br]why we maintain certain divisions. 0:11:35.325,0:11:38.054 Mind you, I want to maintain[br]some divisions, 0:11:38.078,0:11:39.745 anatomically, in our culture. 0:11:39.769,0:11:43.449 For example, I don't want to give a fish[br]the same rights as a human. 0:11:43.473,0:11:46.058 I don't want to say[br]we give up entirely on anatomy. 0:11:46.082,0:11:47.749 I don't want to say a five-year-old 0:11:47.773,0:11:50.404 should be allowed to consent[br]to sex or consent to marry. 0:11:50.428,0:11:52.395 So there are some anatomical divisions 0:11:52.419,0:11:55.728 that make sense to me[br]and that I think we should retain. 0:11:55.752,0:11:58.645 But the challenge is trying[br]to figure out which ones they are 0:11:58.669,0:12:01.280 and why do we retain them,[br]and do they have meaning. 0:12:01.304,0:12:05.094 So let's go back to those two beings[br]conceived at the beginning of this talk. 0:12:05.118,0:12:06.976 We have two beings, both conceived 0:12:07.000,0:12:10.491 in the middle of 1979[br]on the exact same day. 0:12:10.515,0:12:14.265 Let's imagine one of them, Mary,[br]is born three months prematurely, 0:12:14.289,0:12:16.791 so she's born on June 1, 1980. 0:12:16.815,0:12:20.988 Henry, by contrast, is born at term,[br]so he's born on March 1, 1980. 0:12:21.586,0:12:23.378 Simply by virtue of the fact 0:12:23.402,0:12:25.860 that Mary was born[br]prematurely three months, 0:12:25.884,0:12:30.126 she comes into all sorts of rights[br]three months earlier than Henry does -- 0:12:30.150,0:12:34.365 the right to consent to sex,[br]the right to vote, the right to drink. 0:12:34.389,0:12:36.022 Henry has to wait for all of that, 0:12:36.046,0:12:39.060 not because he's actually[br]any different in age, biologically, 0:12:39.084,0:12:41.349 except in terms of when he was born. 0:12:41.989,0:12:45.149 We find other kinds of weirdness[br]in terms of what their rights are. 0:12:45.173,0:12:47.366 Henry, by virtue of being[br]assumed to be male -- 0:12:47.390,0:12:49.781 although I haven't told you[br]that he's the XY one -- 0:12:49.805,0:12:53.976 by virtue of being assumed to be male[br]is now liable to be drafted, 0:12:54.000,0:12:55.940 which Mary does not need to worry about. 0:12:55.964,0:12:59.737 Mary, meanwhile, cannot in all the states[br]have the same right 0:12:59.761,0:13:01.361 that Henry has in all the states, 0:13:01.385,0:13:02.867 namely, the right to marry. 0:13:02.891,0:13:05.655 Henry can marry, in every state, a woman, 0:13:05.679,0:13:08.687 but Mary can only marry today[br]in a few states, a woman. 0:13:09.219,0:13:12.112 So we have these anatomical[br]categories that persist, 0:13:12.136,0:13:15.885 that are in many ways[br]problematic and questionable. 0:13:15.909,0:13:17.630 And the question to me becomes: 0:13:17.654,0:13:23.642 What do we do, as our science[br]gets to be so good in looking at anatomy, 0:13:23.666,0:13:26.236 that we reach the point[br]where we have to admit 0:13:26.260,0:13:29.137 that a democracy[br]that's been based on anatomy 0:13:29.161,0:13:30.593 might start falling apart? 0:13:31.880,0:13:34.604 I don't want to give up the science,[br]but at the same time, 0:13:34.628,0:13:37.776 it feels sometimes like the science[br]is coming out from under us. 0:13:37.800,0:13:38.976 So where do we go? 0:13:39.829,0:13:43.910 It seems like what happens in our culture[br]is a sort of pragmatic attitude: 0:13:43.934,0:13:47.372 "We have to draw the line somewhere,[br]so we will draw the line somewhere." 0:13:47.396,0:13:50.082 But a lot of people get stuck[br]in a very strange position. 0:13:50.106,0:13:54.976 So for example, Texas has at one point[br]decided that what it means to marry a man 0:13:55.000,0:13:57.395 is to mean that you don't have[br]a Y chromosome, 0:13:57.419,0:14:00.489 and what it means to marry a woman[br]means you have a Y chromosome. 0:14:00.513,0:14:03.235 In practice they don't test people[br]for their chromosomes. 0:14:03.259,0:14:04.742 But this is also very bizarre, 0:14:04.766,0:14:07.086 because of the story I told you[br]at the beginning 0:14:07.110,0:14:08.920 about androgen insensitivity syndrome. 0:14:08.944,0:14:12.476 If we look at one of the Founding Fathers[br]of modern democracy, 0:14:12.500,0:14:13.680 Dr. Martin Luther King, 0:14:13.704,0:14:16.907 he offers us something of a solution[br]in his "I have a dream" speech. 0:14:16.931,0:14:20.198 He says we should judge people[br]"based not on the color of their skin, 0:14:20.222,0:14:22.093 but on the content of their character," 0:14:22.117,0:14:23.639 moving beyond anatomy. 0:14:23.663,0:14:26.642 And I want to say, "Yeah, that sounds[br]like a really good idea." 0:14:26.666,0:14:28.322 But in practice, how do you do it? 0:14:28.346,0:14:31.296 How do you judge people based[br]on the content of character? 0:14:31.833,0:14:32.985 I also want to point out 0:14:33.009,0:14:36.820 that I'm not sure that is how we should[br]distribute rights in terms of humans, 0:14:36.844,0:14:40.147 because, I have to admit, that there[br]are some golden retrievers I know 0:14:40.171,0:14:43.748 that are probably more deserving of social[br]services than some humans I know. 0:14:43.772,0:14:47.367 I also want to say there are probably[br]also some yellow Labradors that I know 0:14:47.391,0:14:50.414 that are more capable of informed,[br]intelligent, mature decisions 0:14:50.438,0:14:53.160 about sexual relations[br]than some 40-year-olds that I know. 0:14:53.184,0:14:57.362 So how do we operationalize[br]the question of content of character? 0:14:57.386,0:14:59.311 It turns out to be really difficult. 0:14:59.335,0:15:00.816 And part of me also wonders, 0:15:00.840,0:15:02.712 what if content of character 0:15:02.736,0:15:05.976 turns out to be something[br]that's scannable in the future -- 0:15:06.721,0:15:09.030 able to be seen with an fMRI? 0:15:09.054,0:15:10.665 Do we really want to go there? 0:15:11.100,0:15:12.436 I'm not sure where we go. 0:15:12.460,0:15:15.011 What I do know is that it seems[br]to be really important 0:15:15.035,0:15:17.978 to think about the idea[br]of the United States being in the lead 0:15:18.002,0:15:20.006 of thinking about this issue of democracy. 0:15:20.030,0:15:22.741 We've done a really good job[br]struggling with democracy, 0:15:22.765,0:15:25.099 and I think we would do[br]a good job in the future. 0:15:25.123,0:15:27.726 We don't have a situation[br]that Iran has, for example, 0:15:27.750,0:15:30.043 where a man who's sexually[br]attracted to other men 0:15:30.067,0:15:31.264 is liable to be murdered, 0:15:31.288,0:15:33.459 unless he's willing[br]to submit to a sex change, 0:15:33.483,0:15:35.370 in which case he's allowed to live. 0:15:35.908,0:15:37.699 We don't have that kind of situation. 0:15:37.723,0:15:41.022 I'm glad to say we don't have[br]the kind of situation with -- 0:15:41.046,0:15:43.029 a surgeon I talked to a few years ago 0:15:43.053,0:15:45.489 who had brought over a set[br]of conjoined twins 0:15:45.513,0:15:48.424 in order to separate them,[br]partly to make a name for himself. 0:15:48.448,0:15:51.898 But when I was on the phone with him,[br]asking why he'll do this surgery -- 0:15:51.922,0:15:55.648 this was a very high-risk surgery --[br]his answer was that, in this other nation, 0:15:55.672,0:15:59.305 these children were going to be treated[br]very badly, and so he had to do this. 0:15:59.329,0:16:02.481 My response to him was, "Well,[br]have you considered political asylum 0:16:02.505,0:16:04.112 instead of a separation surgery?" 0:16:04.136,0:16:06.585 The United States has offered[br]tremendous possibility 0:16:06.609,0:16:08.976 for allowing people[br]to be the way they are, 0:16:09.000,0:16:12.698 without having them have[br]to be changed for the sake of the state. 0:16:12.722,0:16:14.900 So I think we have to be in the lead. 0:16:14.924,0:16:17.381 Well, just to close,[br]I want to suggest to you 0:16:17.405,0:16:19.936 that I've been talking[br]a lot about the Fathers. 0:16:19.960,0:16:21.976 And I want to think[br]about the possibilities 0:16:22.000,0:16:24.905 of what democracy might look like,[br]or might have looked like, 0:16:24.929,0:16:26.802 if we had more involved the mothers. 0:16:27.385,0:16:30.423 And I want to say something[br]a little bit radical for a feminist, 0:16:30.447,0:16:34.292 and that is that I think that there may be[br]different kinds of insights 0:16:34.316,0:16:36.565 that can come from different[br]kinds of anatomies, 0:16:36.589,0:16:39.211 particularly when we have[br]people thinking in groups. 0:16:39.235,0:16:41.742 For years, because[br]I've been interested in intersex, 0:16:41.766,0:16:44.243 I've also been interested[br]in sex-difference research. 0:16:44.267,0:16:46.620 And one of the things[br]that I've been interested in 0:16:46.644,0:16:49.246 is looking at the differences[br]between males and females 0:16:49.270,0:16:51.909 in terms of the way they think[br]and operate in the world. 0:16:51.933,0:16:54.006 And what we know[br]from cross-cultural studies 0:16:54.030,0:16:55.870 is that females, on average -- 0:16:55.894,0:16:57.976 not everyone, but on average -- 0:16:58.000,0:17:02.891 are more inclined to be very attentive[br]to complex social relations 0:17:02.915,0:17:04.493 and to taking care of people 0:17:04.517,0:17:06.793 who are, basically,[br]vulnerable within the group. 0:17:07.519,0:17:09.726 And so if we think about that, 0:17:09.750,0:17:11.751 we have an interesting situation in hands. 0:17:11.775,0:17:13.741 Years ago, when I was in graduate school, 0:17:13.765,0:17:16.962 one of my graduate advisors[br]who knew I was interested in feminism -- 0:17:16.986,0:17:19.222 I considered myself[br]a feminist, as I still do, 0:17:19.246,0:17:20.795 asked a really strange question. 0:17:20.819,0:17:23.728 He said, "Tell me what's feminine[br]about feminism." 0:17:23.752,0:17:26.923 And I thought, "Well, that's the dumbest[br]question I've ever heard. 0:17:26.947,0:17:29.521 Feminism is all about undoing[br]stereotypes about gender, 0:17:29.545,0:17:31.607 so there's nothing[br]feminine about feminism." 0:17:31.631,0:17:33.656 But the more I thought about his question, 0:17:33.680,0:17:36.898 the more I thought there might be[br]something feminine about feminism. 0:17:36.922,0:17:39.631 That is to say, there might be[br]something, on average, 0:17:39.655,0:17:42.527 different about female[br]brains from male brains 0:17:42.551,0:17:47.615 that makes us more attentive[br]to deeply complex social relationships, 0:17:47.639,0:17:50.472 and more attentive[br]to taking care of the vulnerable. 0:17:50.496,0:17:52.999 So whereas the Fathers[br]were extremely attentive 0:17:53.023,0:17:56.834 to figuring out how to protect[br]individuals from the state, 0:17:56.858,0:18:00.703 it's possible that if we injected[br]more mothers into this concept, 0:18:00.727,0:18:04.333 what we would have is more of a concept[br]of not just how to protect, 0:18:04.357,0:18:06.677 but how to care for each other. 0:18:06.701,0:18:09.274 And maybe that's where[br]we need to go in the future, 0:18:09.298,0:18:11.505 when we take democracy beyond anatomy, 0:18:11.529,0:18:15.064 is to think less about the individual body[br]in terms of the identity, 0:18:15.088,0:18:17.438 and think more about those relationships. 0:18:17.462,0:18:20.927 So that as we the people[br]try to create a more perfect union, 0:18:20.951,0:18:23.844 we're thinking about what we do[br]for each other. 0:18:23.868,0:18:25.019 Thank you. 0:18:25.043,0:18:27.817 (Applause)