Blog #7 - Middlesex Book 4

Book four of Middlesex involves the discovery of Callie’s intersexed genitalia and the means by which her parents and doctors handled the situation. The reading this week was reminiscent of Suzanne Kessler’s article, The Medical Construction of Gender, in which she discusses the ways that doctors approach intersexed cases and try to “correct” children born with ambiguous genitalia. In the novel, the Stephanides go to New York to consult Dr. Luce, the head of the sex disorders and gender identity clinic at New York Hospital. Dr. Luce approaches Tessie and Milton in much of the ways that Kessler describes in her article, with extreme care and an oversimplification of their child’s medical status. He does not reveal to the parents that Callie is in fact a boy, and that despite her gender identity she is biologically more male than she is female. After examining Callie physically and psychologically, Dr. Luce decides that the most beneficial and logical treatment for her condition would be to perform cosmetic surgery to construct “normal” female genitalia and to regularly administer hormone injections to stimulate the outward manifestation of female secondary characteristics. In this case, the basis for the doctor’s decision was not biological or genetic, but rooted in the idea that a constructed gender is more significant in determining an individual’s identity. “According to Luce’s thinking, that did not mean that I had a male gender identity… In addition to chromosomal and hormonal factors, Luce had to consider my sex rearing, which had been female.”(p.413) The fact that Callie was a teenager when her ambiguous genitalia was discovered complicated the process in which Kessler described in her article. In the Medical Construction of Gender, Kessler does not address the difficulties in assigning a sex to an individual who has already developed a gender identity. If I were in Dr. Luce’s position, I think that one of the most significant factors in assigning Callie’s sex would be her gender identity. If a child is content being a female and is accustomed to functioning in society as a girl, there is no reason to change her sex. In the novel, what complicated the doctor’s sex assignment was that Callie lied during most of the psychological assessment. This misled Dr. Luce into thinking that she was attracted to men and has on more than one occasion enjoyed participating in intimate “heterosexual” relations. If Callie had told the truth, Dr. Luce’s evaluation may have been different. There is one point in the doctor’s final evaluation that I want address. He writes, “The ability to marry and pass as a normal woman in society is also an important goal, both of which will not be possible without feminizing surgery.” (p.437) This quote clearly shows the common perception in society that hermaphroditism is not normal and that the only possible way of functioning in society is by conforming to one of the two acceptable gender categories. Callie never undergoes cosmetic surgery to construct female genitalia. When she learned that she was in fact a male, she journeyed to California to begin her transformation into Cal and find her true identity. I really enjoyed the conclusion of the novel. Although the end was bittersweet, I was glad that Cal embraced his true identity and that Tessie and Chapter Eleven accepted his new gender.

The novel Middlesex not only describes the childhood of Calliope, but the adulthood of Cal and his relationship with a woman named Julie Kikuchi. Throughout the entire narrative Cal talks about his difficulties with women and his inability to engage in serious sexual relationships. But by end of the novel the author reveals Cal’s personal growth when he is finally able to tell Julia the truth about his sexual identity.