There is no ‘normal’ only more prevalent

To the editor:

I was disheartened this morning to read as article published on Sept. 27, 2017.

It aired the concerns of a man who apparently was speaking on behalf of jealous partners of inmates at the Nova Institute for Women. His views concerning the female inmates under supervision, including a transgender woman under supervision (plus Viagra?!) seem to be informed more by fantasy prison porn than reality.

The fact is that one’s gender or sexually is not a black-and-white, youare-or-you aren’t issue. There is no “normal,” only more prevalent.

Our traits are determined by nature and nurture – but recent research in genetics, epigenetics and biochemistry (among other fields) is showing that, like all other living creatures, we are not much more than the sum of our chemical reactions and gene expression.

With billions of permutations possible, most traits we exhibit can be plotted on a sliding scale. The ones that are most prevalent, the bump on the bell curve, is what some people take as “normal.” The fact is that everything is normal, but throughout human history there has been a dominant population that decides what is acceptable. Red hair, albinism, left-handedness and gender/sexually are some of the traits that have been deemed abnormal at various points in human history. These are traits decided by the way the genes we inherit are expressed. Like many of our other characteristics they are decided by chemical reactions, not by choice. There are some things ‘”nurture” can not change.

Just as there are combinations where “male” behaviour and preferences are expressed in a physically male body, there are combinations where “female” behaviour and preferences are expressed in a male body. One can absolutely know in his heart and mind that he’s male; one can absolutely know in her heart and mind that she’s female, but only one will have had the luck to be born in a physical body that expresses who they are to a society that stringently divides gender into polar opposites.

Also ... gender has nothing to do with sexuality!

Deena Netzke, Truro