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Intersexed People

            
             To better understand intersexuality a couple of items should be made more clear first. An intersexual is a person who has genitalia that is different from what has been established as being "normal". The terms intersexual or middlesex are often times either mistaken or synonymous with the term hermaphrodite. Advocates of raising awareness for intersexuality prefer not use this term for they believe that it is misleading and is inaccurate in what it implies an intersexed person to be. A hermaphrodite is mistakenly assumed to be an individual who has both male and female genitalia and is capable of reproducing by themselves. There are no known cases of this and the term hermaphrodite has been modified into true hermaphrodite. Even this modification is believed to be negative and restrictive both for intersexed people and in raising social awareness about the issue of intersexuality. The definition of true hermaphrodite is "individuals who have both ovarian and testicular tissue in their bodies and their external genitals are often a mixture of male and female structures" according to (Crooks and Baur, 1999. p.50). Individuals that would be considered to be true hermaphrodites are rare and there is very little information about them as with many of the other conditions that fall under the umbrella of intersexuality. .
             Intersexual's suffer a great deal at the hands of the medical community in much the same way that women and minorities have today and in the past. Unfortunately there seems to be little information about intersexed individuals within the general public as well as within the medical world. Virtually very little was known about intersexed people until the 1950's up until this point they were pretty much left alone (Coventry p.55). Research by a man named John Money who worked as a sexologist at Johns Hopkins University led to the conclusion that if an intersexed child's genitals were surgically altered by 18 months they would have "a life without undue problems"(Coventry p.


Essays Related to Intersexed People

1. Surgical Sex Reassignment Should Not Be Done At Birth

... reassignment surgery, many tragic results are being uncovered. Although most of us think of sex in terms of male and female, the medical community has classified another group as intersexed. Intersexed people are all the people who don't quite fit the mold of male or female. Some are simply underdeveloped and actually appear to fall somewhere between male and female. Intersex is defined as ... couldn't believe they would do this to me without telling me." (Batz) Medical treatment, including surgery often has the same effect as child sexual abuse. Like victims of sexual abuse, intersexed...

  • Word Count: 4442
  • Approx Pages: 18
  • Has Bibliography

2. He-Man and She-Rah or She-Man and He-Rah

... maintain this 2 sex dichotomy and social norm. It may be rare, but it is surely not a minor issue Intersexed infants are born and the decisions being made in regards to assigning a sex is quite a debacle. How do ... about this and who holds the rights to determining another human's sex and gender? Through the medical management of intersexed infants, a sex is assigned through the social construction of technoscience determining sex. This can be thought of as possible ... They hold power in and of themselves to shape human life and destiny" (Leonard, 23) through the birth intersexed infa...

  • Word Count: 1646
  • Approx Pages: 7
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

3. Hermaphrodites

Critical Summary Article: "Queer Cut Bodies" By Morgan Holmes Intersexuality can be understood as people who were born with both male and female organs. "Queer Cut Bodies" explains that intersexed bodies are actually "clear cut bodies", because these medico cultures have literally "cut" these bodies in order to make them "fit" in the society of Western culture. Holmes" main argument ... the article, (s)he repetitively shows us that this is exactly how society perceives them to be. His/her first argument was that the discovery of hormones created the assumption of intersexed bodies as "irregu...

  • Word Count: 577
  • Approx Pages: 2

4. hermaphrodite

... there are just two sexes, male and female. Nothing could be further from the truth. In reality there are 5 sexes. Yes, real hermaphrodites do exist. The trouble is that most people are familiar with the myth and not reality. There may be as many as 4% of births affected by some form of intersex condition. From the obvious female and male, the ... some aspects of a male genitalia but lack testes. Why don't we hear or know of hermaphrodites? Majority of them, live with silence, shame, and fear learned as children and teen. Intersexed people have a very hard time with personal issues, whic...

  • Word Count: 403
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: High School

5. Klinefelters syndrome

... male development. The X chromosomes are important, but for purposes of the embryo turning into a male, the Y is the important one. People with XXY are not hermaphrodites or intersexed - the Y chromosome(s) ensure that they will develop a penis instead of a clitoris, a scrotum instead of labia, and testes instead of ... clearer, so I've used that by preference. What the Label Means Klinefelter's is a genetic "syndrome." A syndrome is a convenient label used for people who show a particular constellation of symptoms. In this case, the underlying genetic cause is seen by medical profession...

  • Word Count: 1538
  • Approx Pages: 6
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

6. The philosophy of a tomboy

... orientation. However, gender is a distinct category that describes particular human characteristics. The most important thing about gender is that its meaning is created by society: people are expected to behave and express themselves in certain ways that are consistent with the socially pre-determined gender role associated with their sex. Unfortunately, because of ... are never black or white. There is always the area somewhere between. Thus, those who transgress the established borders, frequently experience disapproval and discrimination. The "world" categorizes people into six basi...

  • Word Count: 3294
  • Approx Pages: 13
  • Grade Level: High School

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