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News and Events => Opinions & Editorials => Topic started by: Shana A on May 19, 2012, 08:42:56 AM

Title: No such thing as a natural-born woman
Post by: Shana A on May 19, 2012, 08:42:56 AM
No such thing as a natural-born woman

The category of women - and men, too - are human inventions, not facts of nature ... and many of us do not fit those categories

By Peter McKnight, Vancouver Sun May 19, 2012 3:06 AM

http://www.vancouversun.com/health/such+thing+natural+born+woman/6649556/story.html (http://www.vancouversun.com/health/such+thing+natural+born+woman/6649556/story.html)

Whatever happens tonight at the Miss Universe Canada com-petition in Toronto, one thing is for certain: The winner will not be a natural-born woman.

Now by saying this, I am not predicting a victory for Vancouver's own Jenna Talackova, the transgender beauty who four years ago had sex reassignment surgery. As a result, she found herself disqualified from the Miss Universe Canada competition because she is not a "natural-born" woman, though she was reinstated by competition owner Donald Trump in time for tonight's pageant.

[...]

Now in reality, biological phenomena are continuous, not discrete, so not everyone fits neatly into the male or female categories. Sex is always a messy affair, and "male" and "female" are categories humans have created to allow us to make sense of this mess, to understand sex despite the infinite variations nature produces.