Initially people who were intersex where originally known as hermaphrodites, however this term is now considered offensive and rude as it considered to be misleading and denouncing. In the past, before surgery became a viable solution, most health-care providers tried to characterize intersex individuals by their most prominent gender. It was believed that everyone could be assigned to one of the two genders, either male or female, the following quote illustrates this “It was commonly believed that there were only two sexes and that despite some confusion, the truth could be revealed about every person” (Dreger, 43). Due to this many patients later on realized that they had been assigned the wrong gender and suffered a great deal of mental drama and psychological stress. However as history moved on this view became less accepted as the emergence of “The Five Sexes” proposal came into light. In the text The Five Sexes, Revisited by Anne Fausto-Sterling, this new concept is explored,”Chase made ger first national appearance in 1993… I argued that the two-sex system embedded in our society is not adequate to encompass the full spectrum of the human sexuality. In its place, I suggested a five-sex system. In addition to males and females, I included “herm”... male genitalia” (203). This new theory allowed for a better understanding of intersex …show more content…
which presents us with a self versus regulation dilemma. The following is an example of this, “The Constitutional Court of Colombia has issued three decisions which establish important protections of the human rights of intersex people and restrict the authority of parents and physicians to authorize medically unnecessary genital plastic surgery” this law can constrict with the views of doctors who believe that a surgical approach would be a fitting solution (Greenberg, 2). This can be related to the text Case Study: Culture Clash Involving Intersex, “The urologist must believe that the selected treatment will benefit the child and justify the associated surgical and anesthetic risks”, if the medical care provider believed that surgery was the proper option and wanted to go forward with it he could be stopped by the restrictions of the law (Diamond, 213). The provider would then be conflicted in the sense that, he cannot carry out what believes is right and is forced to delay the process due to differences between his ideology and the law itself. Many ethical principles that doctors have which include, their own views and judgement may differ from what the law upholds. This will force a reanalysis from the doctor and will change the overall treatment plan, for better or for