Intersex Narratives

Society demands strict imposition of gender expectations and must constantly be reassured of the traditional gender and sexual binary. A gender binary is a biopolitcal regulation of masculinity and femininity identity while the sexual dimorphic system theorizes the existence of only two bodies distinguished by their reproduction capacities. However, the “regime of ‘sperm and egg cell carriers’ is going astray” (Preciado 105). In As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised as a Girl, John Colapinto reports David Reimer’s frustration of gender identity as a result of faulty and unethical medical procedures. Born as Bruce Reimer, David is accidentally circumcised, deprived him of a functional male reproduction system. In regulation of imposed societal guidelines of masculinity, he “is incomplete, physically defective, and that he must live apart” (Colapinto Chapter 1).

Because of the difficulty in defining what it means to be intersexed, it is difficult to produce accurate statistics. It has been approximated, however, that one in one hundred people are born with bodies which "differ from standard male or female" bodies (3). Furthermore, the number of individuals receiving "normalizing" surgery on the genitalia is approximated to be one or two in every one thousand births.

Typically, sex and gender have been described as a package deal; one reflects the other. However, this is false and has become a popular topic in today’s society. Sex is defined as “the biological characteristics that distinguish males from females” (Henslin, 2014). Therefore, a person’s sex is determined by their physical traits, such as a penis or a vagina. Gender, on the other hand, “consists of whatever behaviors and attitudes a group considers proper for its males and females” (Henslin, 2014). Gender norms vary between cultures and are not based off of physical traits.

Now, that is a lot of power. We often entrust a doctor’s judgement wholeheartedly because they just want the “best” for us, and in the cases of interesexed individuals, the physician simply wants to rid them of all the adjustment horrors that comes with such configuration, but seldom do they question the inadequacies of our role system, nor have they considered the possibility of such individuals developing into a perfectly happy and capable human beings without reassignment. Perhaps this is due to their inability to associate normalcy with anything outside of the binary. Inevitably, problems began to emerge from these reassignments. Some reassigned individuals felt aligned with their prescribed gender, but most did not. Some of these cases are extremely unfortunate, because their genitals had already been mutilated at birth. Such outcomes had prompted physicians to take more precaution when dealing with intersex babies. Sterling’s noble effort in assimilating intersex individuals through further categorization will help them find a classification system where there is a place that they can fall under, but it does not change the views of the masses, nor does it make it much easier for them to appreciate themselves as who they are, although it is a

The five sexes that are being discussed are male, female, and intersex. Intersex is described as a catch-all category for the subgroups that share both male and female characteristics. That creates the term hermaphrodite (herms), which are people who have both male and female parts. The second subgroup is called male pseudo hermaphrodites (merms) which are people who are born with mostly male parts. The third subgroup is called female pseudo hermaphrodites (ferms) who are those who mainly have female organs. The article focuses on the structure of how hermaphrodites are classified. Ferms, which are the females, are mainly female because they still develop a menstrual cycle during puberty but if they do not take any medication for their disorder, they would develop traits as a

Throughout centuries numerous individuals used sex, gender, and sexuality interchangeably unaware of the dramatic differences. According to Serena Nanda, the author of Culture Counts, “A basic anthropological concepts is the distinction between the biological and cultural aspect of being a male or female” (Nanda 239). In other words, sex, gender, and sexuality constructs a different denotation from a biological perspective to a cultural perspective. These differences layout a fine line on what makes a male a male and a female a female. Moreover, Nanda also states in Culture Counts that “sex refers to the biological differences between a male and a female, particularly the visible differences in external genitalia and the related differences

Anne Fausto-Sterling further separates sex from sexual identity by discussing the experiences of intersex individuals. Despite what society expects of those who don’t neatly fit into the binary, intersex individuals generally manage to live happy lives. After this reading, it seems ridiculous that society has been allowed to determine what a person’s genitalia should be. As America begins to become more accepting of homosexuality, hopefully those who genitalia is a mixture of both male and female sex organs will also find themselves being more

Previous to the 19th century, most intersexual individuals led ordinary lives. Their genital difference was mostly accepted as part of the difference which occurs in nature. Intersex was never a health problem (Daaboul, 2000). It was in the 19th century where intersex became a medicalized and individuals born intersex were categorized as “abnormal” and “diseased” (Daaboul, 2000). The drive of medicine in the last century has been to “cure” intersexed individuals by using surgical, hormonal and psychological therapies to make them clearly female or male. However, the practical and psychological outcomes of this approach have been poor. Many intersexed individuals have suffered severe mental and bodily damage from medicine’s efforts to make them

Many cultures and countries, traditionally, have viewed gender as naturally immutable, as biologically determined at birth, and as binary – either male or female. Because gender binary is accepted as a norm in many cultures and countries, many have ideas and expectations toward newly born infants – these infants are expected to fit neatly into either male or female, and their sexual anatomies are expected to be distinct from one another. When infants are born with intersexual condition, however, medical authorities not only consider these intersex births as anatomic abnormality but intervene also to “fix” these intersex infants back to “normal” by performing highly invasive genital modification surgeries. Because they believe that intersex

Though all of the identities that have been discussed in this seminar are of importance, the three identities I find important to discuss are transsexual, intersex and sex. Our first few readings covered these specific identities right away. Within The Gender Book, Transsexual was described as an individual whose gender identity exists primarily in contradiction to the sex that is assigned at birth (p. 36). Though according to the American Psychological Association (2014), Transgender is described as an umbrella term, which covers a person’s gender expression, identity and behavior that may not necessarily match with the sex that individual was assigned at birth. Though both are informative readings, I believe these authors were set out to

An intersex person is born with a variation of both biological female and male gentiles, hormones, chromosomes, and/or reproductive organs that do not fit the normative binary gender terms female or male assigned at birth. (“What is intersex?” n.d.). The term that used to describe this was “hermaphrodite.” Due to that terms negative connotation, it has been changed to “intersex.” I recently learned this and am glad I did, because I didn’t realize “hermaphrodite” was an outdated term that some find offensive. An intersex person can identify with being male, female, or gender-neutral. I have found there are several blanket terms for those who identify as gender-neutral, which personally adds to my own confusion when I hear a term that is new to

At birth the first words announced are “it's a boy” or “it's a girl!” What many fail to realize that before categorizing based on genitalia, its a human. Humans have the freedom to choose how they choose to identify their selves. The categorization of female and male are not based on the written rules of science, but the unwritten rule imposed by society. If one is born with a male reproductive organ, he must associate himself with all aspects of a boy. The same goes for those born with a female genitalia, she must be considered a delicate princess. What if the delicate princess decides that she does not want to be a princess but a strong athlete? All individuals have the freedom to choose how to live their lives. However, when the subject is about gender, society begins to judge and regulate those who choose to associate themselves with the opposite gender of

There are many different causes of intersexuality. The baby can appear to be a girl based on external genitalia yet internally can be a biological male. The same can also be true for a boy. Genitalia of an intersex baby can be underdeveloped, malformed, not in the right place or be a mix of male and female parts. Doctors continue to debate on exactly what constitutes a true intersex baby. “Some physicians claim that a stretched-penis length less than 2.5 centimeters at birth constitutes "micropenis" and a stretched-clitoris length greater than 1 centimeter at birth constitutes "clitoromegaly."(Encyclopedia of Sex and Gender) p. 773The patients of

In THE FIVE SEXES, REVISITED, Anne Fausto-Sterling explains the variant forms of sexual differentiation, such as congenital adrenal hyperplasia, which is a masculinization of genital in genetic females. Through her explanation, she gives an item by item rebuttal of the two-sex system because that system “is not adequate to encompass the full spectrum of human sexuality.” In other words, chromosomes, hormones, sex organs, the gonads are much various than the general public think of. Therefore, she suggest the new sex system which including 5 sexes: males, females, herms, merms, ferms. For the settlement of 5 sexes, we should not view the intersexual conations as diseases. In addition, genitalia surgically not only should be minimized and reversed

If you want to live within the definition of your own truth, you have to choose to go through the initially painful and ultimately comforting process of finding it” (Levithan 253). Due to being in Vic's body, A is reminded of its own gender problems. Where Vic was conceived as a girl when she should have been a boy, A has struggled with not having a fixed. As well as gender fluidity and transgender topics, Every Day also looks at sexuality. A has been in the bodies of straight males and females, but also in the bodies of homosexual males and females, and has not had a problem.