Norrie was once ‘may well be’, but is now definitely ‘not specified’. Norrie tells The Scavenger hir story of androgyny and journey to being issued what is believed to be the world's first 'sex not specified' legal document equivalent to a birth certificate by the NSW government.
Once upon a time, our religion and race was recorded in our legal identification, but society has moved on. Once upon a time, a woman's courtesy title had to show whether she was the property of her father or her husband, but society has moved on.
We tend to see the social rules we inherit as unchangeable, but they do change, as society comes to value each person equally without prejudice based on race or marital status or sexuality or sex .
There is no reason for still insisting that our legal identity must include a public statement about a very private matter, our sex.
Having gender markers as part of our legal identity is a problem for everyone facing gender discrimination, and anyone who does not fit the standard options of male or female.
Not everyone does, you know, with one in a thousand people being born with an intersex condition, and other people of sex or gender diversity, such as transsexuals in transition, or bigendered people who may identify as either male or female or both, according to the situation or time of day.
While many transsexuals may prefer to identify as whichever of the two standard sex options they see as appropriate, many other people of sex or gender diversity, and also many non-transgendered women, would prefer to not have sex listed as part of their legal identity.
It may be problematic or embarrassing or simply allow for sex based discrimination, which we've had enough of.
Whether I am seen as a man or as a woman or both or neither is different for many people. I don't see myself as absolutely one or the other; although I may use the ladies loos for convenience, I use the men's change rooms at the pool if I am with gay male friends.
I was once a boy, before being first chemically then physically castrated, and had my penis fashioned into vagina over twenty years ago. But I haven't taken hormones for about 20 years, preferring my body and brain to be as they are naturally without being dependent on externally supplied hormones or plastic implants, happy to be androgynous and to be seen as such. I bond with female friends as a female, I bond with gay friends as a fellow queen.
Guys hung up on gender difference don't have much to do with me, and guys who are less hung up may occasionally hook up with me!
For many people, one of the benefits of growing old is becoming more comfortable with yourself and not suffering so much from a relentless comparison with some usually gendered standard of beauty or strength or whatever.
For me, that has meant accepting myself as I am, and rejecting the idea of fitting other people's gender stereotypes, or even the idea that I have to identify as a man or as a woman.
Those concepts, man or woman, just don't fit me, they are not my actual reality, and, if applied to me, they are fiction. At 48 years of age, I'm less inclined to just humour other people's delusions about gender and try and conform to one of their expected options.
If I need to show identity documents, I certainly don't want details that are false, for this will only cause trouble when officials realise I don't match my documents.
If my passport, for example, states that I am female, I may be detained when travelling if the local jurisdiction classes me based on the gender assigned at birth, or if my physically noticeable masculine aspects (for example, my Adam's apple, or my broad chest) are noticed.
If the passport states male, again there is a dissonance with my physical form, castration having had a feminising effect, and I am usually moving and talking in a feminine manner.
Stating my sex as male or as female makes the statement false, which is not acceptable for legal identity documentation, and puts me in danger of detention and assault.
The simplest solution is simply to not have any sex identification on my legal documentation, and so I asked the NSW Register of Births Deaths and Marriages to issue me with a Recognition of Details certificate that didn't state my sex as male or female.
After supplying them with appropriate medical documentation of my reproductive sex being neuter and my anatomy being not specifically male or female, and after they first told me it couldn't possibly be done and then took some time to consider the matter and consult their authorities, they issued me with a certificate stating my sex as “Not Specified”.
I've never felt completely male or female, except for a brief period in early transition, when I first identified as a transsexual because I thought there were only two gender options and male was wrong and female felt better.
Apart from those few brief years where I shared the delusions of transsexual medicine, in which so many doctors are convinced everyone has a core identity either male or female, I have always been androgynous.
When I was a little boy, which wasn't very often... no, really, I didn't think of myself often as a boy, instead having fantasies about being a jungle girl, or a good witch or a female genie like in the TV shows then screening in my early formative years in the 1960s, making up adventures in my head as I walked to and from primary school.
Many of the things denied me were permitted to girls, and I wanted to play with dolls, skip and dance, and wear ribbons in my hair.
It did not occur to me I shouldn't have fantasies about being a girl because I was actually a boy, just as it didn't occur to me I shouldn't have fantasies about being Supergirl because I was not actually Kryptonese. I wrapped my school tie around my head in private and pretended I had long hair.
But not all of my play characters were female. Out of six favourites, one was a boy, who could fly with the aid of a superhero costume. When I went through puberty I tried to adopt a story that was more acceptable to the gender-divided adult world, and my female characters were distilled into one character, who was actually the boy hero who had been changed by a witch, and after she defeated the witch, she was a he again.
That didn't last long, and soon the two characters, male and female, coexisted in my head, and had adventures together.
At university freedom of expression was encouraged, so I became more flamboyant, mixing frilly girl's blouses with tight boys jeans, and having a very androgynous presentation.
When I joined the public service after uni, I faced serious discrimination for being androgynous, and had a nervous breakdown.
At this time, I was also doing drag shows in a gay hotel, receiving adulation for my femininity, rather than the disapprobation this received by those in the public service who sought to sack me for sissiness, and resolved to resolve my gender ambiguity by taking transsexual medicine and surgery.
Two years after swapping my penis for a vagina, I decided to go off hormones, so that I could experience my “natural” self, my body and mind without externally supplied hormones.
I also wanted to get in touch with those aspects of myself that had been labelled unladylike, such as the desire to climb trees. I devoured feminist therapeutic texts, liberated myself from sexist stereotypes, and discovered my uncensored unafraid self to be thoroughly androgynous.
I began writing and critiquing the sexist assumptions inherent in transsexual medicine, and identified as psychologically hermaphrodite.
That was nearly two decades ago, and I have become very comfortable being androgynous rather than female or male, and less tolerant of pretending to have a normative gender so as not to disturb others' preconceptions.
When I censor my being to please others, this causes violence to my soul. I have cut my penis and balls off; The cutting stops there; I don't want to cut another part of myself off to avoid conflict.
Allowing the cutting to continue, putting a normative gender on every form that only gives two options, is death by a thousand cuts to my soul.
Speaking out as an androgynous human, I have found much support, both from those who value diversity and humanity, and from those who also like to express themselves in androgynous or gender-bending ways.
There is a growing social scene (at least in the inner city of big cities) accepting and supporting of people of sex or gender diversity.
Queer conferences starting with Queer Collaborations in the early nineties encouraged me to run workshops breaking down polarised gender and embracing sex and gender diversity. Being on the board of the Gender Centre and working for the Sex Workers Outreach Project's Transgender Project made me aware that I wasn't the only person diagnosed transsexual who was happier blurring the gender lines rather than always conforming to only one gender.
There seemed no sense in having such a changeable and transient quality as gender nailed down as a permanent mark on identity documents.
SAGE (Sex and Gender Education) Australia, a group lobbying against all discrimination against people for being sex or gender diverse, has been supportive of my being androgynous and seeking to have my reality recognised or at least not contradicted by the legal structures of society. It is part of the international movement of people seeking to remove unfair discrimination from social structures.
There may be many who have never thought of there being possibilities other than being male or female, there may be many who think their rules for gender and sexuality come from some tribal god whose traditions must be defended with violence, but there are also many who support the right of each human to express themselves honestly, who would allow children to be who they are, without disciplining them to conform to gender stereotypes, and who can deal with me as an adult without having to be sure what form my genitals are or what history they have or what I do with them in private.
I am grateful that at least the state of New South Wales is able to deal with me on such an adult basis, without needing to specify my sex as male or female, and to issue me with legal identification with sex not specified.
It surprised me to be told I am the first to get such documentation, but I know I won't be the last.
Norrie (who is known under the artistic signature: norrie mAy-welby) is a sex and gender diverse activist based in Sydney, Australia. Visit Norrie’s website here.
READ THE NEWS STORY ABOUT NORRIE BEING ISSUED WITH A 'SEX NOT SPECIFIED' DOCUMENT HERE.
Photo: Sambath Lim
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written by Char, 16 April 2010
written by Char, 16 April 2010
You are correct. Just as someone who is neutral is neutral and someone who is both, is both.
I am very proud of Norrie and very happy for hir. I was at a very bad place when I got the notification of this article, and it literally saved my life. It was only one of many steps to finally get me to where I am finally able to talk about myself openly- regardless of what others may say. Maybe one day I will pursue modification so my sex fits who I am, I do not yet know. But even if I do not do it... I thank you Norrie for being who you are, proudly.
written by RJ, 16 April 2010
I've very social and have gotten to know many people, and the conclusion that I came to that most people would refuse to accept and just call me a homophobe instead, is that homosexuals, asexuals and to a lesser extent bisexual individuals are all mentally handicapped in a certain way. Some close friends are closet homosexuals and others open, but deep down they all have seeded issues with their fathers and because of improper compassion and caring, or a complete lack there of, from them.
Homosexuality and sexual confusion in general are a result of other physiological and psychological short comings in their raising. It is not their fault, true, but no matter how far humans advance, there is no excuse for transexuality or homosexuality. Even if you are an atheist and do not believe in God, the fact still remains that homosexuality does not make children and is an abomination to the natural evolution of any species.
This is just, wrong, wrong, wrong.
You are, more than likely, not in a position to begin to say that these people have mental illnesses because they are homosexual. because of it.
And if you are in a position, I hope the world has mercy on us, to let people like you into the medical field is a disgrace to all that it stands for.
If you aren't, please, please for the love of your own god, do some reading and research.
written by xyl, 09 April 2010
I haven't seen anyone saying that in this comment thread, just that those two categories don't encompass everybody.
"And in this ye contradict yourselves: if there were no natural genders, why would ye bother to change yours? "
If a person believes gender is a social construction they may still wish to transition to a different social gender. Or they may decide to discard the notion of living as one of the binary genders when they don't care to keep themselves in that box. They decide to discard the notion of having a gender at all if they identify as not having a gender. They may also decide to alter their sex for many different reasons.
"Nay, the distinction between sexes is deeply rooted in all cultures and, indeed, in Nature. "
Well indeed, there are sexual characteristics that are estrogenic and those that are androgenic. However people come with bodies of all sorts of mixtures of those two influences. The idea of a dichotomy of sex is a social construction that doesn't match with reality. It's a social construction that's maintained by violence against people who don't fit that dichotomy (eg non-consensual surgery on infants).
"I don't mind if ye cut your penises and want to be called thus females"
Most trans people don't define themselves solely based on their primary sex characteristics. This is an inane oversimplification generally spouted by cis people who think they understand trans people's motivations.
written by André von Kugland, 03 April 2010
written by André von Kugland, 03 April 2010
written by Wendy, 19 March 2010
Good on ya Norrie - you're inspirational and and an examplar of true Christian values.
written by Snipper, 17 March 2010
After all, these examples of tampering with God's created perfections are widespread and clearly must be opposed.
written by waht, 16 March 2010
My analysis has no plotholes, it seems to me that you just misunderstood me. God is perfect, and people are all perfect the way they were created. By changing our organs or DNA, we are insulting our Creator, and this is wrong.
Unlike many people whose hatred is brought upon from ignorance and fear, predispositions and racism, my understanding of this topic is self taught, from learning of and understanding the minds of many individuals.
If you don't believe in God, then there should be even more reason for this to be wrong. Without an all loving God, the only purpose to our lives would be to reproduce, and thus only heterosexual fertile people are the only ones that should live, by your point.
This man is not noble, nor did he show any strength in any of his actions. He fought against his own God given perfection and attempted to change his gender, only to once again fail at "finding happiness". This is not a show of strength or nobility, rather one of weakness and cowardness, as the only one attempting to avoid their destiny and fight against their path, is this man.
Peter, I understand and respect your opinion that sometimes, hatred and anger stem from ignorance, be it religious or otherwise. However, calling me a troll is just ignorance on your behalf. I don't have a problem with anyone in this world, but there is no reason for this to be conceded as important, or as something noble or good. He changed his gender to avoid having to explain to people why he is different. That is cowardly at best, and the act of him acting this way is not something anyone should be proud of.
This is an abomination to God, and attempting to insult me over the internet will not change that.
written by André von Kugland, 16 March 2010
written by André von Kugland, 16 March 2010
written by Peter Scherr, 16 March 2010
To the holier than thou Troll, your imaginary (perfect) God made us "all perfect, Men and women". What is perfect cannot create anything imperfect, so God must be imperfect to have created imperfect humans. Your bigoted dogma has more holes in it than Swiss cheese.
I've come to believe that people who judge others because of what some book tells them (be it the collected works of Beatrix Potter, War and Peace or the Bible) are all mentally handicapped in a certain way. They've invariably been indoctrinated from an early age and conditioned to believe absolute drivel because they have an innate fear that what happens naturally to every living creature will happen to them. By making a pact with some mythical deity they seek to evade their destiny. Unlike the author of this article they are not noble and strong. They are to be pitied.
written by waht, 16 March 2010
I've very social and have gotten to know many people, and the conclusion that I came to that most people would refuse to accept and just call me a homophobe instead, is that homosexuals, asexuals and to a lesser extent bisexual individuals are all mentally handicapped in a certain way. Some close friends are closet homosexuals and others open, but deep down they all have seeded issues with their fathers and because of improper compassion and caring, or a complete lack there of, from them.
Homosexuality and sexual confusion in general are a result of other physiological and psychological short comings in their raising. It is not their fault, true, but no matter how far humans advance, there is no excuse for transexuality or homosexuality. Even if you are an atheist and do not believe in God, the fact still remains that homosexuality does not make children and is an abomination to the natural evolution of any species.
God made us all perfect. Men, and women. It is a disgrace to change this, or to create a new title for yourself. However, people have free will to do as they please, as this was our gift from God, so I will quickly come to my point.
Do as you will. Just don't brag about how this is a good thing. It isn't.
written by erleclaire, 11 March 2010
I know first hand that this is a LIE. Norrie began taking hormones again TWO years ago. This whole genderless crusade has been going on for awhile but in 2008 the self-proclaimed 'hippy' began taking the female hormone pills again in the hope of attracting better business as a street prostitute on William Street in Kings Cross, and perhaps even find a companion.
This didnt feel right so about 5 or 6 months later, sHe abruptly stopped taking them. Substance abuse seemingly increased; in some forms it became daily routine. _|/_
This battle is being fought by a confused, self righteous, disturbingly broken crust of a human being who will fight for the sake of fighting and being the loudest kid in the assembly.
The right wing christian fools are accurate on at least one count: this person does have a mental illness. But please don't judge all gender diverse people on this one over-publicised head case.