Middle Sexes: Redefining He and She (2005) (TV)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Antony Thomas

Writer:

Antony Thomas (writer)

Release Date:

May 2005 (UK)

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

Examines the diversity of human sexual and gender variance around the globe, with commentary by scientific experts and first-hand accounts of people who do not conform to a simple male/female binary. |

Plot Keywords:

Transsexual | Transgender | Intersex

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Gore Vidal	...	Narrator (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Calpernia Addams	...	Herself
Milton Diamond	...	Himself (as Professor Milton Diamond)
Alice Dreger	...	Herself (as Dr. Alice Dreger)
Prof. Anne Fausto-Sterling	...	Herself
Prof. Louis Gooren	...	Himself
Andrea James	...	Herself
Shivananda Khan	...	Himself
James Pfaus	...	Himself (as Dr. James Pfaus)
Dr. Joan Roughgarden	...	Herself
Prof. A.W. Richard Sipe	...	Himself
Dr. Gloria Wekker	...	Herself

Runtime:

54 min | USA:74 min (DVD version)

Country:

USA | UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

USA:TV-MA

Filming Locations:

Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Deep Stealth Productions

No matter how much you know, you'll learn something

This short documentary packs a lot of exhaustive research and information on differing sexuality, tolerance and intolerance around the world. The documentarians literally went around the world and interviewed everyone from "ladieboys" in Thailand to gay boys and men in intolerant India. It explores the fascination the repressed, so-called "modern" West has with the acceptance of the transgendered in the socially more advanced Eastern cultures, and even interviews Dutch physicians who undertook a long, in-depth study of the differing brain structures of men, woman, transsexual men and women, and all the variations, proving an actual physical difference in the brain structures depending on the individual's sexual preference: a study our "advanced" Western culture never bothered to undertake.

The documentary is fascinating and at times a very painful study, as it also shows how much people are made to suffer by their society (up to and including murder), because of a sexuality they were born with.

No matter how much you think you understand human sexuality, you will learn something you didn't know before. You may even find yourself losing some of your prejudices and discomfort with others' sexual identities. A documentary that should have been made 30 years ago, if the American public could have handled it.