Intersex

    • 2 posts
    May 22, 2012 2:58 PM BST

    I am researching this topic; I would like (even anonymous) quotes from people who do not seek assignment surgery, or those who do not like what has been done to them without their informed consent, when they were children.  This is both for an article in the press, and as an addendum to a future article in Frock. Thank you. Tanja

    • 4 posts
    August 26, 2012 7:35 PM BST

    Hi, my name is Tracy. I like this topic for a reason, I was born intersexed myself. There does'nt seem to be very many responses to the subject and this is understandable. I do know a lot about this subject for obvious reasons.  There are'nt a lot of true intersexed people, but we do exist. Most do care to talk about it or at least not in a public manner like this. I do identify with being transgender because this is how I feel and most m-f trans. feel. A lot of us have been through hell because of our gender including myself.

      When I was born (1966) there was not a lot the doctors would do as for as surgery goes. They would only do certain proceedures, like to keep blood from building up inside the female parts of your body. So, you got what you really must have done to live a physically healthy life. Then the doctors would say ok your child will be fine and there is nothing more we can do. See at that time it was'nt about how you may feel or look during your life but only would you be able to live  a physically healthy life. They sometimes would even say that we were not broken just different and the risk to try and fix something you would be able to live with was not worth it.

      Anyways, if you have any questions on this subject or about me please feel free to ask me anything. I have nothing to hide. hehe


    P.S. My name Tracy is my birth name. It was chosen because the doctors was not sure if I would be male or female. So, mom picked a name that could be both. Wow did she get a shock.


    Tracy

    • 4 posts
    September 3, 2012 9:27 PM BST
    Hi Chrissy, yes you are correct. In some ways I feel like being born A Hermaphrodite or intersexed has been a cures from hell. It does make ones life very difficult and confusing in many ways. On the other hand it has a few perks that I do like, example I have female breast . They are not like huge but since im more comfortable as A female this is kinda nice.
    I do want to inhance them, but who is ever really happy with their boobs. Unless you have had a boob jod. lol , Some other issues I have had to deal with are well, like humm. OK, I have one overy on the left side, My hormones fluckuate wildly and I have to monitor them closely. I have normal monthly mentsrial fun like other females, like cramping and bleeding . This part is not so much fun at least not to me. It happens at the end of every darn month like clock work. I lived the first half of my life as a female. Then later I desided to try living as a man. Why, well I am an only child and all of my family are dead. So, I thought this may alow me to have a family and possible children at some point. It did work, after a lot of help from doctors and lots of money I married a woman and now have two wonderfull boys. My wife and I did get divorsed, but live together. I am now at a point where I hate living as a guy and I am now in the process of transistioning back into the woman that I am happy being. This posses a lot of issues for me with my kids and freaked out ex-wife. lol. Thanks for your support.
    Your sister,
    Tracy
    • Moderator
    • 2358 posts
    September 4, 2012 8:36 AM BST

    http://gendersociety.com/forums/topic/7790/synopsis-of-the-etiology-of-gend

     

    Perhaps this will explain a few things.

     

    From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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    For other uses, see Hermaphrodite (disambiguation).
     
    Mating Helix aspersa (garden snails).

    In biology, a hermaphrodite is an organism that has reproductive organs normally associated with both male and female sexes.[1]

    Many taxonomic groups of animals (mostly invertebrates) do not have separate sexes[citation needed]. In these groups, hermaphroditism is a normal condition, enabling a form of sexual reproduction in which both partners can act as the "female" or "male". For example, the great majority of pulmonate snails, opisthobranch snails and slugs are hermaphrodites. Hermaphroditism is also found in some fish species and to a lesser degree in other vertebrates. Most plants are also hermaphrodites.

    Historically, the term hermaphrodite has also been used to describe ambiguous genitalia and gonadal mosaicism in individuals of gonochoristic species, especially human beings. The word hermaphrodite entered the English lexicon in the late 14th century, derived from the Greek Hermaphroditos, the son of the Greek god Hermes and the goddess Aphrodite.[2] Recently, the word intersex has come into preferred usage for humans, since the word hermaphrodite is considered to be misleading and stigmatizing,[3] as well as "scientifically specious and clinically problematic".[4]

     

    No. The mythological term “hermaphrodite” implies that a person is both fully male and fully female. This is a physiologic impossibility.

    The words “hermaphrodite” and “pseudo-hermaphrodite” are stigmatizing and misleading words. Unfortunately, some medical personnel still use them to refer to people with certain intersex conditions, because they still subscribe to an outdated nomenclature that uses gonadal anatomy as the basis of sex classification. In a paper titled Changing the Nomenclature/Taxonomy for Intersex: A Scientific and Clinical Rationale, five ISNA-associated experts recommend that all terms based on the root “hermaphrodite” be abandoned because they are scientifically specious and clinically problematic. The terms fail to reflect modern scientific understandings of intersex conditions, confuse clinicians, harm patients, and panic parents. We think it is much better for everyone involved when specific condition names are used in medical research and practice.

    To read more about the Victorian origins of the medical terminology of “true” and “pseudo” hermaphroditism, check out chapter 5 of Alice Dreger’s Hermaphrodites and the Medical Invention of Sex which is available at our bookshelf, or go to our FAQ called What’s the history behind the intersex rights movement?.

    One more thing: While some intersex people seek to reclaim the word “hermaphrodite” with pride to reference themselves (much like the words “dyke” and “queer” have been reclaimed by LBGT people), we’ve learned over the years it is best generally avoided, since the political subtlety is lost on a lot of people.

     

    Hermaphrodite was used to describe any person incompatible with the biological gender binary, but has recently been replaced by intersex in medicine. Humans with typical reproductive organs but atypical clitoris/penis are called pseudohermaphrodites in medical literature. Pseudohermaphroditism also refers to a human possessing both the clitoris and testicles.[13]

    People with intersex conditions sometimes choose to live exclusively as one sex or the other, using clothing, social cues, genital surgery, and hormone replacement therapy to blend into the sex they identify with more closely. Some people who are intersex, such as some of those with androgen insensitivity syndrome, outwardly appear completely female or male already, without realizing they are intersex. Other kinds of intersex conditions are identified immediately at birth because those with the condition have a sexual organ larger than a clitoris and smaller than a penis. Intersex is thought by some to be caused by unusual sex hormones; the unusual hormones may be caused by an atypical set of sex chromosomes.

    Sigmund Freud (based on work by his associate Wilhelm Fliess) held fetal hermaphroditism to be a fact of the physiological development of humans.[citation needed] He based much of his theory of innate sexuality on that assumption.[citation needed] Similarly, in contemporary times, fetuses before sexual differentiation are sometimes described as female by doctors explaining the process.[14] Neither concept is technically true. Before this stage, humans are simply undifferentiated and possess a Müllerian duct, a Wolffian duct, and a genital tubercle.

    • Moderator
    • 2358 posts
    September 4, 2012 8:42 AM BST

    http://gendersociety.com/articles/176/the-science-behind-reifenstein-s

  • September 4, 2012 5:09 PM BST

    Yes, from my own research into the subject Crissie, I would agree. Because the internal organs can either differentiate into male of female organs during foetal development, you cannot have both sets - in fact I do not think that there has been one recorded example of a human having both sets of internal organs.
    Ref: http://www.isna.org/faq/hermaphrodite

    In many cases of the intersex condition, it renders that person as infertile too (but it is possible, but then they may require need fertility treatment and supportive medical assistance during pregnancy and birth.
    Ref: http://intersexroadshow.blogspot.co.uk/2009/04/intersex-101_28.html


    This post was edited by Former Member at September 4, 2012 5:10 PM BST