In reading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? I became fascinated with Dick’s use of pronouns to speak of androids, I also became quite interested in the concept of identity tied in with the body, all of which goes back to Lamarck – but this is more than just a question of being alive, or being human, it’s a question of what discursive practices construct us as humans. Gender/sex/sexuality all form parts of our experience as humans and can be found in something as simple as a pronoun. By analyzing the coverage of the murder of Eddie “Gwen” Araujo in Newark and how the press uses pronouns, I hope to show that despite the Olympic Sex Test becoming obsolete; there isn’t much of a difference when we socially police the sex of people ourselves within the boundaries of our very speech. People have changed sex even without the aid of technology thus tests for checking sex have made themselves necessary because the object of the “transgender” or rather “transsexual” folk is to become inconspicuous – to pass as members of the other side of the perceived biological binary. This was the case with Eddie Arajuo, who began passing as a female until that critical moment of detection when the self-licensed bounty hunting begins. This happened without a PCR buccal smear or ever knowledge of the Barr body, and lead to the murder of this person. The criteria of the sex test lies within our very language.

Andrea,
This paper topic is definitely refined and ready to be written! I like the way you have complicated the issue of identity through gender/sex/sexuality. If you find you need more pages to write, here are some suggestions (and of course, they are only suggestions). How about defining or utilizing gender, sex, and sexuality when analyzing your texts? Perhaps you can identify the issue of sex within Dawn? (For instance, Lillith seems to have a strange way of describing the sex of the Oankali, as she attempts to separate them as female and male, while grappling with their asexual capabilities.) Overall, I think you have done a great job incorporating the details of the topic, and I am interested to know what conclusions you have come up with.