Wilhelm von Humboldt already argued in favour of gender-open thinking. In his essay Über die männliche und weibliche Form, which appeared in the journal Die Horen in 1795, he stated: "To find pure masculinity and femininity is infinitely difficult, and in experience utterly impossible". He continued later, again referring to gender: "Of these two characteristic features of the human form, whose peculiar difference disappears in the unity of the ideal, one prevails preferentially in each sex, while the other is not lacking." Humboldt developed ideal types in terms of "pure femininity" and "pure masculinity" - and came to the conclusion that these ideal types would never occur in this "pure form" in humans. Humans would always be a mixture of genders.
The idea that every human being is "female and male" at the same time became an important school of thought in modern science. Biologists derived this gender mix from a common sexual disposition. Every embryo initially has the potential to develop in any sexual direction. Biologists are interested in these individual developmental possibilities and the genetic, hormonal and other factors involved. And biologists today are much less judgemental in their approach: The characteristics are increasingly described in simple terms and are not immediately labelled as a "disorder" or "deviation".
Some examples of such variations:
In genitalia considered "male", a "testis" may remain inside the body and contain undifferentiated gonadal tissue; a vaginal opening may be present; sperm may or may not be formed; the urethral opening may be at the tip or shaft of the penis, etc. The situation is similar on a genetic level: There are XY women, i.e. people with an appearance considered typically female and a chromosome make-up considered typically male, just as there are XX men, i.e. outwardly "typical" men who have a "typically" female chromosome make-up. It is becoming increasingly clear that different genes and gene products interact in complex ways and react to factors influencing the cell, the organism and the environment.
The following explanations are intended to provide an overview of the most important ambiguities of biological gender. This is because current biological research is now encountering so many difficulties in fitting its findings into a binary gender scheme that a change of perspective seems almost unavoidable - away from two genders and towards gender diversity. And away from a clear genetic preformation and towards epigenesis.
Reproduction of the genus and the individual
But first, a few basic thoughts on reproduction as the biological "meaning" of sexuality. Reproduction is essential for the preservation of the human species. Since the end of the 19th century, human gametes have been described as egg and sperm cells; they must fuse for reproduction and thus form the basis for the development of the embryo.
Anyone who believes that this already clarifies the problem should be open to a few more arguments: Reproduction only affects some people in today's society. Although we assume - based on what we have learnt in society - that people are capable of reproducing when we consider and categorise them, it is not uncommon for this to not even exist organically. For example, the federal state of Saxony reintroduced subsidies for artificial insemination, which were abolished nationwide in 2004, because "expert estimates" showed that 15 per cent of heterosexual couples were unintentionally childless and that a "high number of unreported cases" should be added to this. 15 per cent + X is certainly a high figure, especially if one assumes that only some of the couples seek medical advice due to a prolonged lack of reproductive success. And it should also be pointed out: Artificial insemination is only successful in very few cases, and the risks for the woman are also not inconsiderable; a different impression is often created. Around 35 to 40 million fertilisations up to 2002 resulted in around one million children; since the reintroduction of subsidies for artificial insemination in the federal state of Saxony in March 2009, 552 treatments had been carried out there by June 2010, resulting in 112 children.
It becomes clear that the problem of "reproduction" must be viewed from two perspectives: on the one hand, reproduction is necessary for the preservation of the human species, it is a "species characteristic". For this, it is necessary that two individuals of the species come together, that egg and sperm come together, that an embryo develops, is born and is subsequently cared for. However, it is probably sufficient if, with good healthcare and good opportunities for social care, say ten or 20 per cent of people reproduce from time to time in order to maintain the size of the population (if this can be considered a benchmark at all). It is therefore not possible to draw conclusions about the individual characteristics of a specific person from this "generic characteristic". A person does not have to be able and willing to reproduce in order to be human.
In embryonic development, there are many possibilities for the development of genitalia in particular, because - in contrast to the heart, liver and lungs, for example - they are not vital. If numerous developments of the heart result in it being non-functional and the embryo perishing as a result, or if the person dies early, a genital tract that organically only lacks the ability to reproduce does not have comparable negative effects.
The formation of the genital tract during embryonic development
In the early stages of embryonic development, the embryos are not sexually differentiated, but share the same sexual development: the gonad, Wolffian duct and Müllerian duct are initially present in all embryos; granulosa and Sertoli cells as well as theca and Leydig cells are homologous to each other, i.e. they have the same embryonic origin. The formation of androgens also occurs in all embryos, they are merely converted into oestrogens in different quantities. It is therefore obvious that the respective pool of factors, the time and the quantity of their provision can vary from individual to individual. In addition, there is the realisation of how closely the development of the embryo is interlinked with factors acting from the parental organism. For a detailed description of embryonic development in its entirety, please refer to Ursula Rosen's lecture.
All in all, it can be seen that the development of the genital tract with characteristics that are considered "male" and "female" is bipolar, but not binary. There is not only the "either/or" with regard to the development of the gonads (either testicular or ovarian development). There certainly does not have to be this "either/or" in the development of the other parts of the genital tract. Rather, we are repeatedly confronted with the finding that a "both/and" can also occur, for example if some factors only affect one part of a developing tissue or if receptors for androgens or oestrogens are formed by the cells to varying degrees, etc.
A differentiated picture thus emerges with the possibility of the highly variable development of the genital tract; it is therefore methodologically appropriate to undertake a new categorisation of the available results, in which bisexuality is not already assumed. In doing so, it is important to break away from a way of thinking that disqualifies variability as a "disorder" and "deviation" from a "norm". Instead, a new categorisation can lead to a better and temporarily more convincing description of the actual diversity of gender characteristics.
Biosynthesis and the effect of hormones
Androgens and oestrogens are often presented as opposites. While the former have a masculinising effect, the latter are particularly important for a feminising effect. Just as often, it is simply stated that testicles produce androgens, whereas ovaries produce oestrogens. Here it is worth taking a closer look: androgens and oestrogens are based on a largely identical biosynthesis pathway. As steroid hormones, they are derived from cholesterol. Androgens are derived from pregnenolone and its conversion product progesterone; these are modified into the androgens androstenedione and androstenediol, from which the androgen testosterone is ultimately formed. The androgens can be converted into oestrogens - particularly depending on the enzyme aromatase. In this way, the oestrogen oestrone is formed from androstenedione, and oestradiol is formed from testosterone. It can therefore be seen that "androgens" are always formed first and these are then converted to "oestrogens" if necessary.
The biosynthesis of androgens and oestrogens takes place primarily, but by no means exclusively, in the gonads. Androgens are also produced in the adrenal cortex, for example, and oestrogens in the placenta. Production takes place in small quantities in other tissues. High concentrations of androgens can cause their conversion to oestrogens in fatty tissue.
While androgens and oestrogens are often ascribed importance in the development of (primary and) secondary sexual characteristics in popular understanding, their other effects are neglected. Oestrogens appear to be important for the functioning of the heart, bone growth and the development of male sperm. Testosterones appear to have an influence on the circulatory system, blood cells, liver, fat and carbohydrate metabolism, among other things. Both oestrogens and testosterones are therefore important for "women" and "men" - Anne Fausto-Sterling therefore suggested categorising them as "growth hormones" rather than using the term "sex hormones" to disguise the full extent of their effects.
The quantity of hormones and their ratio to each other therefore appears to be significant; the various cells of the developing gonads work together and react to incoming stimuli, provided they have the corresponding receptors. Enzymes/enzyme complexes or other protein complexes are necessary for the production of androgens and oestrogens, whose effects can only unfold if the corresponding receptors are present on cells to which they can bind and thus trigger reactions. This makes it clear that their effects vary depending on the individual circumstances and surrounding influences.
Accordingly, it is also clear that "high concentrations" of androgens are not necessarily associated with a male appearance. If, for example, no androgen receptors are present or large amounts of aromatase are produced that become effective, then even with high androgen concentrations a "female" appearance can develop. The problem here is not the appearance that develops, but the social pathologisation that goes hand in hand with the different concentrations of hormones. For example, five to 15 per cent of women of "childbearing age" are described as ill simply because they produce "too many" hormones that are considered "male".
A long road and crooked paths from DNA to gender
As we have already seen, the understanding of theories of sexual development is now also expanding in biology. It is now beginning to no longer describe just one gene or a few genes as being significant for the development of the genital tract, but is now focussing on complex interactions: Several genes and their products can interact in complex networks. However, especially where many factors are involved, and especially when the quantity of their expression also plays a role, it is necessary to consider, in the sense of "technically good" research, that not only two possibilities of genital tract development must result from their interaction. Rather, the interaction of numerous factors could give rise to diverse, different forms of genital tract development that are more or less suitable for reproduction; or even if one were to find similarities between two individuals in the development of the genital tract, these would by no means have to be derived from the same developmental pathways.
However, we still need to significantly broaden our view of complexity. Up to now, we have focussed almost exclusively on the level of the "genetic material", DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid). However, DNA is by no means the factor that is actually active in the cell; rather, several steps that are strongly regulated by the cell are required for the product that finally becomes active in the cell to be formed - this is usually a protein, but an active product in the cell can also be formed as a result of an earlier step.
Firstly, a "signal" is received that stimulates the "reading" of a specific DNA region. Such a signal can be one of the "transcription factors" described above, for example, but gradients of chemical molecules, a strong heat stimulus, etc. can also be the trigger in some cases. DNA areas of the chromosomes that are not expressed are usually very densely packed - this is known as "chromatin". In this form, it is generally not possible to "read" the DNA, so that this dense packing must first be loosened so that the next step - transcription (see below) - can take place. Attached chemical groups (here: "methylations") can also be important in determining whether a DNA region can be read or not. The loosening of the chromatin structure occurs through complex cellular processes.
Transcription can then take place. This involves "transcribing" the DNA sequence into another large molecule which, like DNA, is also a nucleic acid, RNA (ribonucleic acid [RNA]). Both DNA and RNA are a long strand of consecutive "bases" that form the basic structure of nucleic acids. In each case, two very specific "bases" form a bond with each other. Due to this very specific base pairing, the RNA can now be created "complementary" - quasi mirror-image - to the DNA sequence; the DNA strand is called the "template". This is also a complex process in which numerous factors have to interact in order to specifically regulate whether transcription should take place, whether it should be initiated, whether it should continue ("elongation") and whether it should be terminated ("termination"). The transcription is not carried out with one hundred per cent accuracy - for example, a non-complementary "base" can be incorporated. A specific accuracy (and inaccuracy) is achieved via "repair mechanisms" - again with numerous factors involved in the cell.
In this way, an RNA is created that is not yet "ready", a pre-mRNA (or pre-mRNA). Rather, after transcription ("post-transcriptionally"), various changes to the molecule take place until a mature RNA is obtained.
The mRNA that is then present is now transported from the cell nucleus into the cytoplasm. This transport does not happen "just like that", but as a regulated process. Only in the cytoplasm can the mRNA be available for translation. However, translation does not have to take place and the mRNA can be rapidly degraded. Depending on the tissue, the mRNA lasts from a few minutes to many hours - many, one or even no translations can take place.
Numerous factors are also involved in translation, in which the mRNA sequence is transcribed into an amino acid sequence - which is then the basic building block of the protein. Here too, it is precisely regulated whether translation should take place, whether it is initiated, maintained and terminated. This results in the amino acid sequence, which represents the basic building block of the proteins - but by no means the finished product that is effective in the cell. After translation ("post-translational"), chemical changes take place that lead to a product with specific activity, reactivity and localisation in the cell. Parts of the amino acid sequence can be specifically removed, or additional amino acids can be added to the existing sequence or inserted between amino acids in the sequence. Chemical groups - such as proteins, sugars, fats, proteins - can be added, and new chemical bonds can be inserted. Only now is a specific product created with a defined spatial-geometric form that has very characteristic chemical and physical properties.
The conclusion to be drawn is this: DNA or "genes" do not contain information that only needs to be converted; rather, the specific, currently necessary information of a gene is only generated through a variety of processes in the cell, in specific reaction to surrounding influences - from the cell, the parental organism, the environment. Numerous different products can arise from a single gene (DNA), which are then localised differently in the cell and develop different activities. Regulation takes place at all levels. This means that it depends on the environmental conditions, i.e. the cell and possibly the parental organism, and not in the manner of a (passive) material store, but as an (active) "reaction space" in which numerous reactions take place and influences from the cell, organism and environment become effective. Only this "reaction space" and the influences acting there lead to concrete products that are formed and for whose formation DNA serves as one of the components.
To put it another way: the preformist assumption that DNA determines everything is wrong - and refuted. Instead, the processes of embryonic development must be considered in a broader and more complex way. DNA is one of the factors involved in the cell. It is only through cellular processes that the information required at the specific point in time in the cell is obtained from it. Many cellular factors - such as various proteins - are involved in this process, which must combine and interact so that the "required" product is formed from a DNA sequence.
Process thinking in chromosomal sex development
Such integrated, systemic considerations were and are still being taken, but they lagged behind genetics, which only focussed on DNA and charged it with such far-reaching significance that it already contained all the information required to build an organism and only needed to be read. The theories of Goldschmidt and Kammerer already showed integrated and systemic considerations; since the 1940s, such views have often been summarised under the term "epigenetics". From the 1940s onwards, Conrad Hall Waddington used the term "epigenetics" to refer to factors of the cell plasma that were supposed to contribute to the implementation of the "information" of the genes. For him, genes were certainly dominant, but they were dependent on other components of the cell - and these should be analysed. Today, the considerations could go further, and the dominant position of DNA could justifiably be called into question. Under "epigenetics" could be categorised the considerations described here on the remodelling of the chromatin structure, on transcription and translation and further chemical changes linked to this. In addition, factors from the parental organism could also be considered, as well as the effects of nutrition and stress - which are now considered to play a dominant role in developmental processes.
For sexual development, the many factors involved and the processual nature, which is always open to regulation, mean that it does not follow a rigid and simple pattern of "female" or "male", but rather that the development of the genital tract takes place according to individual conditions and influences. It is therefore immediately obvious that numerous forms of genital tract development are possible. In reality, these do indeed occur, but they are generally concealed by clothing anyway and - fortunately - do not come to the attention of medicine. In the case of people who stand out because they do not fit into the current norms of "female" or "male", a clear "female" or "male" appearance is still often created extremely ruthlessly and violently; or people are encouraged to regard themselves as "ill" simply because they are unable to reproduce because they do not have the chromosome stocks or hormone levels regarded as "typical". The question is, however, when you consider the many factors involved in sexual development: What is typical? Is the chromosome set the decisive factor? Is it the individual genes and the many products formed from them? From what quantity of a formed product is a person considered "female", when is it "male"? Is it the gonads that should be unique - or must they also (be able to) produce gametes? Does a "man" have to have functional sperm cells, and does a "woman" have to have "internal genitalia" as well as the ability to produce eggs, develop an embryo and carry it to term? Or is it simply the external appearance of the genitalia - especially the penis, testicles and vagina - that is typical? All of these characteristics together will not interact in a "clear" "female" or "male" direction in any single person.
Gender diversity and church tradition
Looking back historically, the rigorous categorisation of gender is historically new. Until around 1500, society and - particularly relevant in Europe at the time - church jurisdiction reacted relatively calmly if a person could not be clearly assigned to one of the two social genders "man" or "woman". If a doubt arose, as could be the case with questions of marriage, inheritance and bequeathing, the ecclesiastical court seised ruled that the person should choose to belong to either gender and should not deviate from the decision made for the rest of their life. In his essay Der Hermaphrodit und seine Frau: Körper, Sexualität und Geschlecht im Spätmittelalter (2013), Christof Rolker takes a nuanced look at this comparatively "unagitated" approach to "atypical" sex and recognises a change from around 1530: from the early 16th century, harsh judgements such as burning were made.
Against the backdrop of current social developments that aim to enable and promote gender and sexual self-determination and to put an end to violent social ways of dealing with "deviations from the norm", it could be favourable for the Catholic Church to refer more to its own - more open - tradition. Understanding gender in the sense of God's creation can mean recognising the diversity of the people who actually exist. This recognition is also necessary: transgender and intersex children and young people (but also adults) report many violent experiences and far too often temporary suicidal intentions as a result. Pastoral care has a duty here to recognise and support; after all, pastoral care should be a place that supports people instead of harassing them and robbing them of their last courage to face life. In concrete terms, the following topics and tasks arise with regard to the Catholic Church and its pastoral care:
- Accepting creation - even if it is diverse and does not run along the lines of limited human social order.
- Perceiving the whole person - holistically, including the sexual and gender dimensions.
- Taking support needs seriously: promoting mental and psychological health instead of causing people suffering and - in extreme cases - suicidal thoughts.
- Connecting to our own tradition of greater openness.
