Middle Sexes - Redefining He and She - 2005 - info.txt

Middle Sexes - Redefining He and She (English - 2005)

The latest documentary by award-winning filmmaker Antony Thomas (HBO's Celibacy), 
Middle Sexes: Redefining He and She sensitively explores the controversial subject of the 
blurring of gender as well as the serious social and family problems - even dangers - often 
faced by those whose gender may fall somewhere in between male and female. Narrated by noted 
author Gore Vidal and filmed in the United States, Europe, Asia, and South America, Middle Sexes 
examines the ways different societies and cultures handle the blurring of gender, sexual identity 
and sexual orientation. Through interviews with transgender, intersexual and bisexual men and 
women, as well as experts from the scientific and academic communities, the film considers the 
entire spectrum of sexual behavior, personal identity and lifestyles among people of different 
backgrounds and cultures. From this, a theme of tolerance and appreciation 
of diversity emerges in the film.

** 	Along with thought-provoking personal experiences of transsexuals, intersexuals, transvestites 
	and their partners and families, Middle Sexes: Redefining He and She interviews scientists, 
	anthropologists and psychologists who offer ground-breaking research on the biological and 
	cultural influences on gender identity and sexuality.

** 	Researchers cite examples from the natural world, where species display a wide range of sexual 
	variation, and point out that humans show more diversity than the strict male-female dichotomy. 
	About one in every 100 people is born with anatomically ambiguous genitalia; these individuals, 
	formerly called hermaphroditic, are now known as "intersex."

** 	Other research reveals biological explanations for differences in sexual identity. 
	At the Dutch Institute for Brain Research, Prof. Louis Gooren found that tiny clusters of 
	nerve cells in the brain structure of male-to-female transsexuals were more like a female 
	structure; likewise, in female-to-male transsexuals, they were more like a male structure. 
	This, he says, "explains that the brains of transsexuals have not developed in agreement 
	with their genitalia."

** 	The filmmaker interweaves these findings with the personal stories of individuals and their 
	partners and families. In the film we meet: (from the U.S.) 8-year-old Noah, who gets teased 
	for acting like a girl; Calpernia, a transgender woman whose boyfriend was killed when her 
	true identity was revealed; and Max, an intersex male who was raised female for most of 
	his life; (from India) Veejay, secretly married to a male partner while maintaining a 
	"normal" heterosexual marriage; and Nandini, who undergoes a sex change operation as part of 
	an ancient religious ritual; (from Thailand) Go, who, though born male, is a successful 
	actress and model, and Kui, a transsexual who met her western boyfriend on the internet; 
	and (from Suriname) Elli, who lives in a culture where sexual orientation is seen as fluid 
	and has had a non-stigmatized 20-year relationship with her female partner.

** 	Among the noted experts featured: Dr. James Pfaus, Concordia University, Montreal; 
	Prof. Alice Dreger, Michigan State University; Prof. Louis Gooren, Free University Hospital, 
	Amsterdam; Dr. Joan Roughgarden, Stanford University; Prof. Anne Fausto-Sterling, 
	Brown University; Prof. A.W. Richard Sipe; Prof. Milton Diamond, University of Hawaii; 
	Shivananda Khan, OBE, Naz Foundation International; Prof. Sam Winter, University of Hong Kong; 
	Dr. Gloria Wekker, University of Utrecht; and Dr. Lester Wright, Western Michigan University.

**	 A co-production of HBO and Granada Television, 
	Middle Sexes: Redefining He and She was written, directed and produced by Antony Thomas, 
	whose credits include six other AU documentaries for HBO: 2004's Celibacy, 
	2001's A Question of Miracles, 1997's Body Doubles: The Twin Experience, 
	1996's To Love or Kill: Man vs. Animal, 1993's By Satan Possessed: The Search for the Devil and 
	1992's Never Say Die: The Pursuit of Eternal Youth.

CREDITS: Written and Directed by Antony Thomas; Produced by Antony Thomas and Carleen Ling-an Hsu; 
Narrated by Gore Vidal; Director of Photography: Jonathan Partridge; Editor: Mcdonald Brown; 
Sound Recordist: Simon Farmer; Composer: Dimitri Tchamouroff. For Granada: 
Executive Producer: Liz McLeod. For HBO: Supervising Producer: Nancy Abraham; 
Executive Producer: Sheila Nevins.