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中间性
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怎样对待中间性
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社会-文化的态度
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法律传统
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婚
姻
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传统上，在绝大多数国家，法律只承认男女之间的婚姻。当各种类型的多配偶婚姻在某些国家得到法律承认之时，婚姻伴侣的确切数目总未有规定。然而，有关婚姻的法律如果始终未有明确规定，就意味着婚姻是发生在不同性别个体之间的结合。的的确确，许多现代西方社会的民法法规已经把一个女人与一个男人的结合定义为婚姻。
然而，就像我们在本教程已经弄明白的一样，要定义孰男孰女？总是不可能容易获得答案。现代性学研究在性别领域揭示了许多从前未为人知的复杂现象，并且已经发现在男性与女性之间的性别过渡类型的整个性象谱系，这些过渡的性别与当今法律所载明的性别并不相符。性学研究也显示，一个人的性别认同可能与他/她的解剖外貌相抵触。所以，一个人孩童时的性角色指认可能最终不得不作出变更，并且由此可能需要改正个人的身份认证证件。可是，如果这个人在改正身份认证之后始终保持着婚姻，就会派生出这么一个问题——现在在两个同性之间的的婚姻是否可能仍然有效。同性婚姻(Same-sex marriages)近来只是在一些西方国家成为可能，可是其他国家和许多宗教仍然激烈地反对同性婚姻。的的确确，在“性别改变”以后，想要获得新的身份认证证件的已婚变性者，首先不得不与其配偶离婚。
对中间性者来说，这种情形也是一个严重的问题，因为他们中的许多人诚实地与另一个性别成员缔结了婚约。确实，他们的中间性状态可能延续多年也未被察觉，直到医生检查他们不孕/不育的病因时才被发现。于是，他可能发现在其性角色与生理现实之间会有矛盾。不管这种令人惊讶的诊断如何，如果这个人的性别认同仍旧稳固，新近所发现的“真正的”生理性别问题只是会被忽略。看病的医生和这对配偶会保守秘密，而法律依旧不予过问。然而，一些个案从一开始就可能经历磨难和难以隐瞒。如果真相为人所知，他们可能就婚姻会暗暗地提出许多疑问。例如，中间性的援助者会指出，不能生育对婚姻决不会构成障碍，因为甚至于绝经之后的妇女总是会被允许结婚。不能生育对于性交也决不会有妨碍，因为甚至于慢性疾病、严重的残障和十分年老者也会被允许结婚。所以，含蓄的精神之恋、友情、伙伴关系和经济保障始终被公认为维持婚姻的充足理由。因而断定婚姻应该限定在不同性别的配偶的理由并不合乎逻辑。那么，说起来并不令人吃惊，当代社会面临一个逐渐高涨的诉求：无论性伴侣的生理性别是什么，他们的婚姻应该是一个普世人权。 |
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Intersexuality - Dealing with Intersexuality
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Socio-cultural Attitudes - Legal Traditions
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Marriage
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Traditionally, the law in most countries has regarded marriage as possible only between females and males. The exact number of the marriage partners was not always specified, as various forms of polygamy were permitted in some cultures. However, it was always implied - if not always spelled out - that marriages took place
between persons of different sex. Indeed, the civil codes of
many modern Western societies have clearly defined marriage as a union of one woman and one man.
However, as we have seen in this course, it may not always be easy to determine who is a woman and who is a man. Modern sex research has revealed many formerly unsuspected complexities in this area and has discovered a whole spectrum of transitional stages between femaleness and maleness that do not fit the laws as currently written. It has also shown that a person’s sexual self-identifcation can contradict any anatomical appearance. Therefore, an early gender role assignment may eventually have to be changed, and thus it may become necessary to correct the personal identification papers. However, if this person is already married at the time of the correction, the issue arises whether the marriage – now between two persons of the same sex – can remain valid. Same-sex marriages have only recently become possible in a few Western countries, but certain other countries and many religions remain vehemently opposed to them. Indeed, married transsexuals who want new identification papers after a “sex change”, first have to divorce their spouses.
This is a serious issue also for intersexual persons, because many of them marry “in good faith” someone of the other sex. Indeed, their condition may remain undiscovered for years until a doctor looks for the cause of their infertility. He may then find a contradiction between gender role and biological facts. If, in spite of the surprising diagnosis, the person’s sexual self-identification remains unshaken, the issue of the newly discovered “true” physical sex is simply ignored. The doctor and the couple keep it confidential, and the law is none the wiser. However, some cases may, from the very beginning, prove to be more difficult and hard to conceal. If they become publicly known, they may call into question many silent assumptions about marriage. Intersex
advocates will point out, for example, that the inability to produce children has never been an obstacle to marriage, because women have always been allowed to marry even after their menopause. Neither has the inability to have sexual intercourse ever been an obstacle, because even chronically ill, severely disabled, and very old persons have been permitted to marry. By implication, therefore, love, friendship, companionship and economic security have always been recognized as sufficient justifications for marriage. It follows that there is no logical reason why it should remain restricted to couples of different sex. Not surprisingly then,
modern societies face a growing demand that marriage should be a universal human right, regardless of the physical sex of the partners. |
