Lost in the Woods

Somewhere between the study of Psychology and Gender, I find myself lost in the woods.

This week during Personality Psychology lecture, we were exposed to the Rorschach Inkblot Test. All you need to do is describe the random blots of ink and tell the examiner what you see.

Some saw a seahorse, others saw some sea creatures.

This was what scared me.

I saw a man in a bath tub with his hands tied behind his head to a pole. And it gets worst the longer I look at it.

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And then we come to the issue on gender.

"Easy choice," I once thought.

Then I found out that the difference is not that obvious.

Do you know that your DNA might have the male Y chromosome (which would normally make you a guy) but you could look like a girl because of a hormone receptor malfunction? In simple English, you may be a guy, but if this hormone doesn't work in your body, you'll grow up thinking you're a girl, looking like a girl, and having all the parts of a girl. Then puberty arrives and all hell breaks loose. Your voice breaks and you start developing the way a guy would. So what gender are you now?

To make matters worst, there's a difference in academia between sex, gender and sexuality. Sex refers to the parts you got, sexuality refers to the type of others you like, and gender just refers about how you behave.

So... I could be male by birth, liking girls, but my gender could be female because I behave in a feminine way. I know my sex, I know my sexuality. But gender? That's a tough one.

Thus I say I'm lost in the woods. Next time I have to fill in a form asking for my gender, I'm going to check a 3rd box.