Medical texts describe human males as having an X and a Y sex chromosome. Females have two Xs. Hanne Blank's partner has two Xs and a Y. Discovering that her partner had Klinefelter's Syndrome while visiting a fertility specialist, Blank gained a new perspective about her own sexuality and her love for a "man" who has at various times passed for a feminine gay man, a butch lesbian and a female-to-male transsexual.
In her new book, Straight: The Surprisingly Short History of Heterosexuality, Blank explores the reasons behind the creation of the term "heterosexual," and how this word has changed our relationships and our world.
Your book seems to suggest that the naming of heterosexuality and homosexuality in 1868 was a negative thing, as it limited people to specific sexual identities. Given a choice, do you think people who identify as non-heterosexuals have more freedom to embrace their sexual identities today or before 1868?
The notion of a "sexual identity" is also a new thing, even newer than the words "homosexuality" and "heterosexuality." The idea that "homosexual" and "heterosexual" represent two possible options of some larger category of "sexual identity" is a twentieth-century conceit.
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