Self-Organizing Man

How to Build a Man

March 24, 2005 – 8:56 am

Anne Fausto Sterling writes in her essay “How To Build a Man”:

Medical managers use the following rule of thumb (when deciding an newborn’s gender):

Genetic females should always be raised as females, preserving reproductive potential, regardless of how severely the patients are virilized.  In the genetic male, however, the gender of assignment is based on the infant’s anatomy, predominantly the size of the phallus.

Further she writes:

Medical practitioners do not permit one (a newborn) born with a penis less than 0.6 inches long to remain a male.

Fausto is unparalleled at describing science as social construction.  Her work on intersexed children has implications for transsexuals and transgenders and for our understanding of masculinity.

The marketing message is:  size does matter.  A message marketed from birth.

Violence is marketed as natural.  Why are we then surprised that men are so screwed up?