Information AboutIntersex |
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| intersexuality | |
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| queer theoryintersexuality | |
| biology of gender | |
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Applying Sax's approximation to the Population Of The U.S. yields about 54,000 intersex people. LANGUAGE Research in the late twentieth century has led to a growing medical consensus that diverse intersex physicalities are normal, but relatively rare, forms of human biology. Perhaps the most prominent researcher, Milton Diamond , stresses the importance of care in selection of language related to intersexuality.
Nomenclature Hermaphrodite The terms '', 2006 . Disorders of sex development The , 2006 . Members of The Lawson Wilkins Pediatric Endocrine Societyhttp://www.lwpes.org/ LWPES and the European Society for Paediatric Endocrinologyhttp://www.eurospe.org/ ESPE accepted the term "disorders of sex development" (DSD) in their "Consensus statement on management of intersex disorders" published in the Archives of Disease in ChildrenHughes IA, Houk C, Ahmed SF, Lee PA; LWPES Consensus Group; ESPE Consensus Group. Consensus statement on management of intersex disorders. ''Arch Dis Child.'' 2006 July;91(7):554-63. Epub 2006 April 19. and in Pediatrics.Lee, P. A., C. P. Houk, S. F. Ahmed, and I. A. Hughes. 2006. Consensus statement on management of intersex disorders. Pediatrics 118 (2):e488-500. http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/reprint/118/2/e488 The term is defined by congenital conditions in which development of chromosomal, gonadal, or anatomical sex is atypical. However, this has been met with criticism from other activists who question a disease/disability model and advocate no legal definition of sexes, no gender assignments, no legal sex on birth certificates, and no official sexual orientation categories.French-speaking Intersex Network of Europe ( July 12 , 2005 ). Frequently Asked Questions. Translated from French-speaking by OII. Retrieved June 4, 2006. Alternatives to labeling these as "disorders" have also been suggested, including "Variations of Sex Development" Diamond M, Beh HG ( 27 July 2006 ). Variations of Sex Development Instead of Disorders of Sex Development. '' Arch Dis Child'' INTERSEX PEOPLE IN SOCIETY History Intersex individuals are treated in different ways by different cultures. In some cultures intersex people were included in larger " Third Gender " or gender-blending social roles along with other individuals. In most societies, intersexed individuals have been expected to conform to either a male or female Gender Role . 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. As an example, one of the ,(a mother-goddess) fashioning mankind out of clay. She boasts that she will determine the fate – good or bad – for all she fashions. Enki , the father god, retorts as follows.
Since the rise of modern medical science in Western societies, some intersex people with ambiguous external genitalia have had their genitalia surgically modified to resemble either male or female genitals. Ironically since the advancements in surgery have made it possible for intersex conditions to be concealed, many people are not aware of how frequently intersex conditions arise in human beings or that they occur at all. Contemporary social activists, scientists and health practitioners, among others, have begun to revisit the issue and awareness of the existence of physical sexual variation in human beings is returning. There are increasing calls for recognition of the various degrees of intersex as healthy variations which should not be subject to correction. 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. 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. Depending on the type of intersex condition, corrective surgery may not be necessary for protection of life or health, but purely for aesthetic or social purposes. Unlike other aesthetic surgical procedures performed on infants, such as corrective surgery for a , in which the solution might involve intensive medical and parental efforts to reassign the male baby to a female identity, which opponents claim lead to the degrading interpretation that females are essentially castrated males. 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. During the Victorian Period , medical authors introduced the terms "true hermaphrodite" for an individual who has both ovarian and testicular gonadal histology, verified under a microscope, "male pseudo-hermaphrodite" for a person with testicular tissue, but either female or ambiguous sexual anatomy, and "female pseudo-hermaphrodite" for a person with ovarian tissue, but either male or ambiguous sexual anatomy. The writer Anne Fausto-Sterling Coined the words ''herm'' (for "true hermaphrodite"), ''merm'' (for "male pseudo-hermaphrodite"), and ''ferm'' (for "female pseudo-hermaphrodite"), and proposed that these be recognized as sexes along with male and female. However, her use was "tongue-in-cheek"; she no longer advocates these terms even as a rhetorical device, and her proposed nomenclature was criticized by Cheryl Chase , in a letter to The Sciences which criticized the traditional standard of medical care as well as Fausto-Sterling's shorter names, and announced the creation of the Intersex Society Of North America . Intersex in popular culture Beginning as early as 1989, intersex became a topic of interest for broadcast TV and radio in the United States and other countries. Jeffrey Eugenides ' novel '' Middlesex '' (2002) is narrated by an intersex character who discusses the societal experience of an intersex person. There is also 7 volumes of Japanese manga series I.S._(Aiesu) (published in 2003) which deals about various Intersexuals, how they deal with the issue and how they influence the life of people around them. Notable intersex people
Intersex organizations Response from "mainstream" society Lack in education In high school, most emphasis is placed upon the most common XX and XY genotypes. Thus, people nowadays may be more likely to look towards the sex chromosomes than, for example, the histology of the gonads. However, according to researcher Eric Villain at the University Of California, Los Angeles , "the biology of gender is far more complicated than XX or XY chromosomes".http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-02/dnnl-dma020305.php Many different criteria have been proposed, and there is little consensus.ISNA. [http://www.isna.org/faq/what_is_intersex "What is intersex?"] SCOPE Sax's strict definition of intersex (above) is most relevant to family practice and psychological research. Other interest groups serve different communities and concerns and so broaden the definition of intersex in these fields. For instance, the Intersex Society Of North America (ISNA) definition also includes Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS), Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH), ambiguous genitalia, and mosaic chromosomes ( Mosaicism ), in addition to sex chromosome aneuplodies, and any deviations from "the Platonic ideal" in the scope of intersex. It is derived from Anne Fausto-Sterling , an academic in Gender Studies . In other words, it also includes:
Note: This inclusion of Kallmann Syndrome as an intersex condition appears to be based on very early descriptions of the most obvious cases of Kallmann Syndrome, some of whom had multiple medical conditions. The majority of males with Kallmann Syndrome in fact do not have micropenis at birth, and not all have undescended testes. Kallmann syndrome is in fact one of many conditions that cause delayed/missing puberty, but which are not listed in this article. It also assumes that Kallmann Syndrome affects only males (again possibly based on very out of date information). Women may also have Kallmann Syndrome, again with delayed puberty. See notes below about Kallmann Syndrome. Most people with Kallmann's do not regard themselves as intersex. Furthermore, if delayed puberty also is included as intersex, then there is a problem in distinguishing normal pre-pubertal children and intersex. Other conditions whose status as "intersex" are disputed include: Note: Again most people with Turner's do not regard themselves as intersex. This is not surprising since the majority of them are born unambiguously female, though a very small percentage with XYXO chromosomes may have ambiguous reproductive organs. PREVALENCE The prevalence of intersex depends on which definition (presented in "Scope" above) is used. According to the ISNA definition above, 1 percent of live births exhibit some degree of sexual ambiguity,http://www.isna.org/faq/frequency and that between 0.1% and 0.2% of live births are ambiguous enough to become the subject of specialist medical attention, including Surgery to disguise their sexual ambiguity. According to Fausto-Sterling's definition of intersex, on the other hand, 1.7 percent of human births are intersex. She writes,
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