Has transgenderism led to an expansion of gender concepts in North America? Why or why not?

Answer 1

I think so.

A few nights ago I read an essay by Anna Quindlen in which she opined that in the aftermath of the women's movement of the late 20th century the challenges for men have become more apparent. Being expected to work in traditional jobs for 40 or more years, for example, while women are more likely to start their own businesses simply because it's so hard to reach high levels of success in traditional work places.

I think gay rights (or the awareness for the need for them) will provide even greater insights into ways we've stuck ourselves into gender roles. I have numerous homosexual friends and a few transgendered friends. This is something no one discussed 30 years ago. Now that we can admit that they exist, that it's perfectly okay for them to be who they are and that we actually like them the way we are, I wonder what enlightenment we might garner that might show us something about men and women that we aren't aware of now.

Answer 2

I think it has - transgender people defy the popular notion that gender is fixed and immutable - that we can't change. Obviously this has been contested on a few levels:

One, the societal level of gender as construct. Each culture has a different idea of what it means to be male or female, and some have a conception of what it means to be beyond the two. We've suppressed some of these histories because of oppressive colonial takeovers, so we're just starting to learn about two-spirited aboriginal leaders, or reverance of intersexed (hermphrodite) people in ancient times. We're starting to question the gender binary we've been operating in. We're still challenged with it because it's all we know, so it's hard to break out of this 'one or the other' cycle we seem trapped in. But luckily some people are starting to live outside rigid gender lines, and we're starting to see how it's possible to break out of these narrow confines.

Secondly, we're starting to evaluate gender on the biological level. So many babies (I believe it's 1 in 2000) are born intersexed in some way (be it chromosomal, or with ambiguous genitals, primary or secondary sex characteristics) and doctors cover it up, or perform surgery right away to "fix" the baby. Intersexed people are starting to speak out, and demand that they be left alone until they're old enough to fully develop a comfortable gender identity. Too often a doctor will choose the easiest or most convenient surgery route, leading to a hellish life ahead for the intersexed person. So gender isn't as clear-cut as we think - any one of us could be walking around with 'opposite sex' chromosomes, or gonads, and never realize it.
Likewise, transgender people are proving that biology isn't always correct, as they change their bodies to become more comfortable with who they feel they really are.

We're also starting to look at language, and power structures, and how we attach those to gender. We refer to objects with gender, and our language fails when trying to address someone who doesn't want to be addressed as male or female.

I think gender theory is starting to develop the concepts to think outside the binary. Not everyone understands it, and it's a relatively new way of thinking, but we're learning that it's not the male/female world we thought it was. To me it's a nice feeling.