I would say no to the idea of Jadzia being transgender, as she is just a host for the Dax symbiont. A host that can be in either male or female bodies.
Jadzia Dax Transgender?
- Thread starter JeffOakland
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It's kind of complicated, because Jadzia presumably identified as a woman, while Dax presumably has no gender identity per se. When it was in Curzon, Curzon Dax was a man. When it was in Jadzia, Jadzia Dax was a woman. This could be interpreted as Dax being gender fluid, or having no gender identity.
Definitions of transsexuality that talk about identifying with a gender not assigned to them are largely contemporary. The DSM-III-R and DSM-IV, which were in force while DS9 was in production, describes "a persistent discomfort and sense of inappropriateness about one's assigned sex in a person who has reached puberty." Living or being regarded as a different gender is discussed as possible associated characteristics, not central and inextricable from the understanding of transsexuality. Although it was never explicitly addressed, episodes like Dax and Facets show Jadzia being uncomfortable with what are the clearly masculine characteristics of her previous hosts, Curzon in particular. Indeed, the defense of Jadzia at the extradition hearing leaned heavily on the notion that the current host lacked the consciousness of the previous host: she is not the man Curzon had been. This is even more present in Ezri Dax, who we see actively attempting to incorporate new pyschological characteristics as she becomes accustomed to the memories brought by the symbiot.
if we went further back to Magnus Hirschfeld, credited for the first medical research on homosexuality and transsexuality, we see far less emphasis on identity. It is a reflection of the mixture of male and female characteristics present in many humans, expressing itself in different ways. Hirschfeld would definitely have regarded Jadzia as transsexual.
if we went further back to Magnus Hirschfeld, credited for the first medical research on homosexuality and transsexuality, we see far less emphasis on identity. It is a reflection of the mixture of male and female characteristics present in many humans, expressing itself in different ways. Hirschfeld would definitely have regarded Jadzia as transsexual.
My question wasn't so much whether Jadzia Dax is traditionally transgender. Obviously not. What I meant was, can Jadzia Dax be understood as an equivalent in a make believe situation.
I don't feel that Jadzia Dax was transgender. She didn't have the experience of being a different gender in her current lifetime or of transitioning.
None of the Dax hosts transitioned from their gender assigned at birth to the other gender, as far as we know. No surgery or hormone therapy, no shocked reactions from friends and family and trying to get them to use the right pronouns.
And I didn't say they did. I responded to a much simpler claim than that:
Jadzia Dax remembers being a different gender. And she remembers switching from living as one gender to another. But don't mistake this for me saying that she qualifies as transgender.
Jadzia Dax remembers being a different gender. And she remembers switching from living as one gender to another. But don't mistake this for me saying that she qualifies as transgender.
Not every transgender person goes through those experiences.
Use more words. Make your point.
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