Intersex Topics

• richard ekins
• marjorie garber
• clinical child psychology
• cultural anxiety
• milton diamond
• loss of sensation
• cleft palate
• social conservatives
• intersexuality
• genital surgery
• female genital cutting
• negative consequences
• medical profession
• corrective surgery
• medical policies
• theory approach
• female gender
• gender role
• sex and gender
• york academic

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In some cultures such people were included in larger "third gender" or gender-blending social roles along with other individuals. In most societies, intersexed people have been expected to conform to either a male or female gender role. Gagnon and Simon 1973 Whether or not they were socially tolerated or accepted by any particular culture, the existence of intersex people was known to many ancient and pre-modern cultures.

Hirschfeld, M. (1923) 'Die Intersexuelle Konstitution.' Jahrbuch fuer sexuelle Zwischenstufen, 23, 3-27.

N. (1964) Intersexuality in Man. IN ARMSTRONG, C. N. & MARSHALL, A. J. (Eds.) Intersexuality in Vertebrates Including Man. London, New York, Academic Press Ltd.

Some have attacked the common Western practice of performing corrective surgery on the genitals of intersex people as a Western cultural equivalent of female genital cutting. Despite the attacks on the practice, most of the medical profession still supports it, although activism has radically altered medical policies and how intersex patients and their families are treated. Richard Ekins, Male Femaling: A Grounded Theory Approach to Cross-dressing and Sex-changing. New York: Routledge 1997, Page 55-M Marjorie Garber, Vested Interests: Crossdressing and Cultural Anxiety. New York: Routledge 1992, Page 101 Others, typically social conservatives, have claimed that the talk about third sexes represents an ideological agenda to deride gender as a social construct whereas they believe binary gender (i.e. there is only male and female) is a biological imperative. Sex and Gender are Different: Sexual Identity and Gender Identity are Different, by Milton Diamond, Ph.D., published in Clinical Child Psychology & Psychiatry - Special Issue In Press for July 2002.

Unlike other aesthetic surgical procedures performed on infants, such as corrective surgery for a cleft lip (as opposed to a cleft palate), genital surgery may lead to negative consequences for sexual functioning in later life (such as loss of sensation in the genitals, for example, when a clitoris deemed too large/penile is reduced/removed, or feelings of freakishness and unacceptability) which would have been avoided without the surgery; in other cases negative consequences may be avoided with surgery. Opponents maintain that there is no compelling evidence that the presumed social benefits of such "normalizing" surgery outweigh the potential costs. Intersex Society of North America (May 24, 2006).

This view overlooks the embryological origin of the penis/clitoris.) Defenders of the practice argue that it is necessary for individuals to be clearly identified as male or female in order for them to function socially. However, many intersex individuals have resented the medical intervention, and some have been so discontented with their surgically assigned gender as to opt for sexual reassignment surgery later in life.

Jeffrey Eugenides' novel Middlesex (2002) is narrated by an intersex character who discusses the societal experience of an intersex person.

Other interest groups serve different communities and concerns and so broaden the definition of intersex in these fields.

The varieties range, including having two ovotestes or having one ovary and one ovotestis. This is often in the form of streak gonads. Phenotype is not determinable from the ovotestes; in some case the appearance is "fairly typically female," in others it is "fairly typically male," and it may also be "fairly in-between in terms of genital development." Intersex activist Cheryl Chase is an example of someone with ovotestes. Weil, Elizabeth (September, 2006).

There is often concern whether surgery should be performed at all. A traditional approach to the management of Intersexuality has been socially motivated surgery. However, some (Alice Dreger) say that surgical treatment is socially motivated and hence ethically questionable; without evidence doctors regularly assume that intersexed persons can not have a clear identity. This is often taken further with parents of intersexed babies advised that without surgery their child will be stigmatized. Further, since almost all such surgeries are undertaken to fashion female genitalia for the child, it is more difficult for the child to present as male if they later select a male gender identity. 20% to 30% of surgical cases result in a loss of sexual sensation (Newman 1991, 1992).

Intersex advocates such as Anne Fausto-Sterling in her Sexing the Body argue surgery on intersexed babies should wait until the child can make an informed decision, and label operation without consent as genital mutilation.

Source: Wikipedia > Intersexuality