Fashioning the Body: Versions of the Citizen, the Self, and the Subject

Scene: Mom and Dad tuck their little girl into bed.

Little girl: Where do boys come from?

Mom (2-sex): When you're inside mommy, you start out as either a boy or a girl. Even your twin brother lived in a totally separate sac than you!

Dad (1-sex): That's not exactly true. Actually, everyone starts out as female, with the penis inside the body as a fetus. Boys happen because they produce enough heat to push their genitalia outside their bodies. You, little girl, were just too cool and so you stayed female.

Little girl: So I have a penis too?

Mom (2-sex): No! You do not have a penis. You are a girl and you have ovaries which are inside of you, you are not like boys. Boys have testicles and they are external to the body.

Dad (1-sex): Yes you do! You have an inverted penis inside of you. If you had produced enough heat, it would have turned inside out and grown externally.

Little girl: Can I become a boy?

Mom: Well, it's not impossible for you to become a boy. It's not very likely, though. It's definitely impossible for a boy to become a girl, that I know.

Dad: Ehh... there are a few recorded cases of females turning into males, but the sources aren't credible.

Little girl: So can I do everything brother does?

Mom: No, because you are completely different. You are distinct from a man and you do different things. Men and women have different virtues and vices.

Dad: No, you can't really. Men and women live different lives and that's how society works.

Both: Goodnight.