Do you remember the climate control panel in older cars? The slider could move all the way to the blue side for completely cool air, and all the way to the red side for completely warm air. In the middle, the red and blue colors overlapped giving you a combination of hot and cold air. You could mix it just right to generate your optimal air temperature – directly in the middle for an equal mix, or slightly to one side or the other for a warmer or cooler effect on the air flow.

The slider image is one way I use to depict my current view of gender. In this illustration, gender is still binary, represented by the solid blue and red ends of the span, but each individual’s slider is positioned somewhere along the continuum. If it is situated somewhere in the middle, the result is a unique fusion of the two extremes. This produces the idea of a gender spectrum, while still using the binary of male and female as the reference points.

This year I’m committed to studying the topic of gender in the contexts of both faith and science, as well as sorting through my own emotions and the experience of my family. As part of my investigation, I recently reached out to a theologian and university professor with whom we used to attend church. He received his Master of Arts in Theological Studies (MATS) from Bethel University (St. Paul, MN) and a PhD in Philosophy and Theology from Marquette University (Milwaukee, WI). In conjunction with colleagues, he is currently researching and co-writing a book on gender and sexuality. We shared some time over drinks to talk about his findings and converse about the issue of gender.

Five different philosophies he shared for viewing gender:

1. Gender Binary – In this view there are only two genders and anything else is some sort of dysfunction
2. Gender Binary with Twilight – This outlook shares the two-gender model but holds that there are some cases in the middle that we don’t fully understand. The name for the model comes from using night and day to represent male and female and twilight to indicate that small percentage of individuals who fall in the middle.
3. Gender Tertiary – Continuing to include male and female, this perspective adds a “third gender” category.
4. Gender Continuum – This view holds that there are potentially as many genders as there are gendered persons.
5. Denial of Gender – Gender as a concept is determined problematic in this point of view and should be rejected.

He said, “I think that gender binary is only plausible in a Genesis 1 world, and that our current world is best thought of as either gender binary with twilight or perhaps gender tertiary.”

It became apparent in our conversation that in his team’s areas of study – intersex conditions, defining categories of sex and gender, exploring ranges of attraction in both heterosexuality and homosexuality, gender identity, and more – there appears to be much variation and diversity of development, even if the differences don’t fall equally along a spectrum. This impacts the ability to clearly define sex into binary categories.

For example, you might decide to determine sex based on chromosomes, with all 46XX individuals being female and 46XY male. That works except that 1 in 1,666 births are people who are neither 46XX or 46XY. Some are 47XYY, 49XXXXY, 45X, etc. Visit the World Health Organization’s page on Gender and Genetics and the Intersex Society of North America’s website for more information. It is difficult to separate sex into clear-cut divisions, with currently more than 40 disorders of sex development identified today versus only a handful identified just thirty years ago.

I immensely appreciate the confluence of scientific data with theology in this team’s work. They will not find all the answers, and they may arrive at a theological conclusion that doesn’t satisfy everyone, but they are engaging all of the information available at this time in our history and culture, and that means a great deal to me.

Our conversation was too short to cover lots of ground. We didn’t discuss much about his theological position, though he did provide me with notes from a recent talk he gave on the topic which I’ll share another day. His advice for us and to share with our children, should they choose to listen, was less theological and more as a father and a friend.

Nothing is clear and unambiguous.

His studying has revealed more questions than answers. Not only does the church not really know how and where to stand, but neither does the medical/psychological community. Both entities tend to sound pretty certain in their positions, but those positions are actually far from fact with much remaining to be examined.

Be an equal opportunity skeptic.

Whatever decision you are considering, be skeptical of information provided by both extremes. It’s fine to be skeptical of the church’s traditional viewpoints and challenge them; maybe change is needed and a pull in that direction is timely. But also be skeptical of the current rush to permanent, physical transition. Maybe there are more holistic solutions that would be healthier in the long run than the individual identity approach.

Take Time

The rational part of a teen’s brain is not fully developed until around age 25. Waiting for anything is hard, and waiting on something that you feel is who you truly are could seem excruciating, but the irreversible consequences are pretty serious.

My gender slider image doesn’t neatly exemplify any one of the gender philosophies he described, but it expresses the thought that things are unclear and ambiguous. I believe that the more we learn about gender and sexuality, the more we will be amazed at the complexity and diversity. My hope is that exploring all parts of this issue will help bring about a more nuanced approach that speaks to the whole person for individuals who don’t fit the gender boxes.