At birth, every human being is assigned a sex and a gender, which will be female or male, depending on their sexual anatomy. However, the reality is far from being so simplistic and so clear-cut. And the exhibition One of a kindwhich was inaugurated last Thursday at the Musée de la civilization in Québec, demonstrates this to us with intelligence and sensitivity through biology, anthropology and history.
The exhibition first sets the scene by recalling that everything starts from the external genital organ that is discovered at birth and which, at first sight, destines the person to a binary that popular culture and society will contribute to to strenghten.
Casts of variously shaped penises and vulvaes — made from live models by the SEX-ED+ company — show that despite stereotypes, there is great variability in human sexual anatomy.
We then discover an astonishing diversity of sexual bodies within the animal world. For example, several species of molluscs and fish, including clownfish, are hermaphrodites, as they have both male and female reproductive organs. “We tend to see the animal world in a binary way, whereas there are plenty of examples that show that the reality of sexual characters is much more complex,” notes curator Valérie Bouchard.
Sexual variations are also observed in humans. Intersex people, in particular, are born with both female and male sex characteristics. These intersex variations can manifest in sex chromosomes, sex hormones, the appearance of the external genitalia, or the functioning of the internal genitalia.
In an audiovisual capsule, sociology professor at UQAM Janik Bastien Charlevoix denounces the interventions practiced on intersex people with the aim of conforming their genitals to the standards of the male and female sexes, especially in children before they are able to give their consent.
In the next area, we learn that multiple societies recognize more than two genders. “We often have the impression that gender diversity is a relatively recent reality that mainly concerns young people, but we discover that it is present in many societies around the world and that there are many examples that have gone through history,” emphasizes Caroline Lantagne, project manager at the Museum.
An interactive map of the world makes it possible to identify some forty societies where a diversity of gender identities evolves. Clothing and jewelry associated with non-binary people from some of these societies are also on display: notably, a dress worn by Muxes from Oaxaca, Mexico, who are people whose gender assigned at birth is male, but who adopt the behaviors associated with the feminine gender. “Muxe identity is an indigenous tradition that has been recognized since pre-Hispanic times,” it is emphasized.
Also a sari that belonged to the Hijras, a transgender community that has existed in India for 4000 years. Born boys or intersex, these people identify with the female gender, so they dress as women and are sometimes emasculated. Since 2014, India officially recognizes the existence of this third gender.
Marie-Philippe Phillie Drouin, nicknamed Phillie, executive director of Divergenres, who participated in the scripting of the exhibition, says that there are more than 130 indigenous languages in which words designating gender identities other than man and woman. “Traditional indigenous societies were mostly organized outside the binarity as we know it today. It was during the very violent history of colonization that traditional ways of experiencing gender and sexuality were erased,” she explains.
We often have the impression that gender diversity is a relatively recent reality that mainly concerns young people, but we discover that it is present in many societies around the world.
In a video clip, Diane Labelle, a Mohawk elder, explains to us that Indigenous people of sexual and gender diversity have begun an identity process aimed at rediscovering, through traditions and stories, the identities that are specific to their community. and their culture. From this process emerged in 1990 the two-spirit identity claimed by members of the First Nations, Inuit and Métis.
A zone then presents the transition that trans people make one day or another: social transition, which takes place during the coming out, which three trans people recount with great emotion; physical, verbal, legal and surgical transitions.
Works of art, including two splendid sculptures by trans-Quebec artist Paige Krämer Rochefort, dot the exhibition route.
A large section is then devoted to the various social movements that have followed one another and have paved the way for the current demands of trans and non-binary people.
An audiovisual capsule gives the floor to two academics specializing in trans children, as well as to Maël Ste-Marie, this young transgender girl who testified at the National Assembly last fall during consultations on Bill no.oh 2 amending the Civil Code with regard to personality rights and civil status.
A gallery of portraits of historical figures clearly demonstrates that people who transgress gender norms have always been part of different societies.
The route finally ends in a large space of creation and celebration where we can see the collarette of the transformist artist Gilda, who performed in the cabarets of Montreal, which were the place of emergence of the trans movements in Quebec.
“At the same time cultural, social and above all educational, this exhibition is part of this desire to establish a dialogue, to give keys to understanding and to humanize”, declared Phillie at the end of the press visit.
As the drag queen Barbada so aptly put it in the introduction to the visit: this is a “necessary and essential exhibition”.