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The drive to become both sexes is clearly an enormously compelling subject for Lawrence Kubie, and I found myself in awe of his passion, erudition, and compassion for what he understands as a universal dilemma with sometimes tragic consequences. For me, the most challenging moment in “The Drive to Become Both Sexes” (Kubie 1974) is when the author, who has throughout the paper spoken of the effects of culture on this drive—often disparagingly and/or with heavy heart—lays down the gauntlet and asserts: “Thus cultural attitudes influence the level on which it [the drive] operates, the openness of its expression, and the accessibility of the conflict to therapeutic influences. But they do not create the conflict” (p. 428, italics added1).
Halfway through the essay, and before I reached this statement, I was quite certain that I could argue that culture does indeed create the conflict. But I wanted to understand why Kubie was so certain of the opposite. In my commentary, I will look at how United States culture