Last term, the Gay-Straight Alliance officially changed its name to Gender Sexuality XYZ -- GSX for short. While I think the new acronym sounds more like a Ferrari model or extreme sports tournament than a group of students fighting heteronormativity, the concept behind the name change is an important one.
At Dartmouth and within educated American society at large there seems to be a general level of acceptance -- at least theoretically -- towards gay people. Typically, the argument goes that most people will be born straight, but some will be born gay. Gay people are exactly the same as straight people in all respects but their sexual preference, and therefore deserve all the same rights and protections that straight people enjoy.
However, modern queer theory -- that which led to the GSA name change -- radically challenges this binary. Queer theorists assert that people often identify in ways more complex than gay or straight, male or female. Some men are comfortable with their genitalia but prefer to cross-dress. Some women are sexually attracted to men but emotionally attracted to women. And some individuals, born intersexual, embrace their ambiguous gender without choosing to identify as male or female.
The point is, our modern culture sees gender and sexuality through very simplistic terms. That simplicity is not natural, but rather, enforced. Children are generally born into one of two biological sexes, and do indeed adopt a number of biological traits specific to their sex. But a child's gender is not the same as his or her sex. Gender is learned through culture. And in our culture, gender is hyper-exaggerated.
In other words, gender is performative. We are taught that there is a strict division between masculinity and femininity, and thereby must meet the gender standard of our sex.
Biology doesn't give Johnny a natural aversion to pink, nor does it give Sweet Dude '09 a natural inclination towards misogyny -- society does. In fact, studies consistently show that the biological and genetic differences between the sexes are so small that, if we were to look at them from a truly objective perspective, we might wonder why the classification of male and female even exists. So, if gender is a performance, then what's to stop somebody from experiencing gender liberation -- from discovering the various behaviors and thought processes that they identify with most strongly, be they male or female, and creating a unique self that escapes the gender binary?
This same concept applies to sexuality. Sex researchers confirm that sexuality exists on a continuum, and most people fall somewhere in between entirely homosexual and entirely heterosexual. Modern queer theory posits further that sexuality is fluid; at different points in one's life, one may find that his or her sexual attraction changes. Not only does this apply to the specific gender that individuals are attracted to but also to the sexual roles -- the various forms of sexual dominance and submission -- that interest people most. While bisexuality implies an equal attraction to both genders, queer theory contends that one's sexual and emotional attractions can be too uneven and too complex to classify under any one sexual orientation label.
In a sense, queer theorists are uninterested in proving that gay people are "born gay" -- a tactic frequently used for political gain from gay advocacy groups. Rather, queer theorists are concerned with understanding the intricate complexity of each person's sexuality, acknowledging the myriad environmental and biological influences.
This is what the change from Gay-Straight Alliance to Gender Sexuality XYZ is all about. The GSA has always been focused on inclusivity; the GSX reaffirms that commitment by incorporating a more diverse and open-minded perspective into its name, offering students the freedom not to identify with any single label as a prerequisite for group membership.
Transcending the gender and sexuality binary is no easy feat. In our society, a truly open-minded approach to the issue would create an entire array of practical and legal problems that go far beyond the same-sex marriage controversy. In adopting its new name, however, the GSX has taken the first step towards accurately articulating the complex human experience. As more individuals seek to understand why the "Gay-Straight" dichotomy is no longer acceptable, the oppressive classifications our society imposes on itself will slowly wither away, allowing us to discover the true identities we've been hiding in the closet.
