The Five Sexes

There are several foundations that articulate to a person on how to be a man or woman. Science tells us by recognizing the X or Y chromosomes. The media displays it to us physically, through the model celebrities that poise the covers of magazines and show their bodies in commercials. Manly things include sports, wrestling, cars, and blue for the boys. Womanly things include: dresses, make-up, painted nails, and the color pink. All of these sources, along with others, have grown into a norm that has become established within society. This norm is placement in belonging and assimilating into the binary system of the human, the man or the woman. In Anne Fausot-Sterling's acrticles “The Five Sexes,” the binary system is uncovered and questioned. Fausot-Sterling explores the harsh physical and psychological effects that come with the following to social standards. In order to understand this phenomenon, an explanation of the “model” body, and how that is determined is needed. In addition, an explanation of any deviance to what is “ideal”, and how those people are treated, are important in understanding society's standards of sex and gender.
Fausto-Sterling describes the ideal make-up of a man and a woman. “Males have an X and a Y chromosome, testes, a penis and all of the appropriate internal plumbing for delivering urine and semen to the outside world. They also have well-known secondary sexual characteristics, including a muscular build and facial hair. Women have two X chromosomes, ovaries, all of the internal plumbing to transport urine and ova to the outside world, a system to support pregnancy and fetal development...”. (“The Five Sexes, Revisited” 2). In the idealized world, Fausto-Sterling points out how human beings are a “dimorphic species”, that is, two kinds. Science takes into account the biological DNA sequence of chromosomes to determine male or female. The genitalia of a person, his/her biological parts, are