For the sake of the length of this paper only three types of intersexuality will be explained in depth, but let it be noted that there are numerous combinations of chromosomes, hormones, and external genitalia that can occur all resulting in a child that would be considered intersexed. The types of intersexed conditions that will be discussed in this may not be the most common in frequency of occurrence they do appear to be the most common within the available resources on intersexed people. Three of the types of intersexuality that can occur are Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH), Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS), and Hypospadias. Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia or CAH is a condition that is a result of the adrenal glands producing too much male hormones which affect the genitals of XX or female fetuses. It is believed that CAH is not a problem when it occurs and the fetus is XY or male due to the fact that CAH in a female fetus masculinizes the genitals causing them to be "abnormal". Children born with CAH must be given more hormones to fix what damage the hormones that are already in their bodies are doing. Of course this decision is ultimately left up to the parents of the child but there is also the option of surgery (which will be explained more extensively later) to fix the appearance of the genitals of the child born with CAH. Some of the external evidence of CAH that may be "corrected" by surgery is to reduce the enlarged clitorises that are common among children born with CAH and also to create a vagina, a procedure known as vaginoplasty, because sometimes there is no vaginal opening or canal. .
Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome or AIS is a condition where the receptors for testosterone in an XY or male child do not respond to testosterone. The result is a child that is chromosomally male but appears to be female and at puberty proceeds to develop female sex characteristics such as breasts.
