Gender Issues In Intersex

Improved Essays
“Intersex is a group of conditions where there is a discrepancy between the external genitals and the internal genitals (the testes and ovaries)” (Kaneshiro, 2) Intersexuallity is a essence of being born with a mixture of both male and female biological characteristics, which are caused by an error in the sex chromosomes. Since both sides are present, it is very difficult for physicians to deal with issues involving the assignment of a specific sex or any consultations revolving around the issue. Intersexuality has been a major topic in medicine through history as has been subjected to a lot of controversy and different procedures. Even in the present day and age there are a lot of differences between how its viewed in distinct cultures and …show more content…
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

Related Documents

  • Decent Essays

    One of the concessions to introducing a gender perspective to medicine has been the necessity, in gender studies terms, to adopt the reductionist approach of representing sex and gender to binary concepts. Binary (usually oppositional) concepts imply that things are only one or the other; black or white for example. In medicine, we like things to be as black or white as possible. Many of the social sciences, however, embrace the concept of an infinite range of grey. In terms of sex and gender, the binary concepts are male/female and masculine/feminine.…

    • 231 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    There is no territory between.” (Stone). Sexual pleasure is, however, part of the reason why some trans decide to go through with the surgery because, in the current sex that they are living in, they are unable to have any…

    • 993 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Intersex issues have gained increasing attention in academic, medical, and legal circles over the past two decades. At the forefront of the discussion is the issue of gender assignment surgery, including ethical questions regarding whether gender assignment surgery is appropriate for infants who cannot consent. In some cases, surgical responses are necessary to address intersex conditions that threaten the life of the child, such as with cloacal exstrophy and salt-losing CAH. In those cases, it would be impractical for a physician to wait till the infant can provide consent to proceed with treatment.…

    • 129 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Kanzi The Bonobo Analysis

    • 1029 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In the Five Sexes, Sterling the author argues that female and male are not the only sexes, “there are five sexes or more on a spectrum. There is the true hermaphrodites, who possess one testis and one ovary (the sperm- and egg-producing vessels, or gonads); the male pseudo-hermaphrodites (the "merms"), who have testes and some aspects of the female genitalia but no ovaries; and the female pseudo-hermaphrodites (the "ferms"), who have ovaries and some aspects of the male genitalia but lack testes” (pg2). Sterling’s point is that humans should not limit the possibilities of there being more to human existence into two categories. The problem it seems hard for humans to accept.…

    • 1029 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    This peer review article was about the deconstructing of GID (Gender Identity Disorder), due to gender Identity being an evolving disorder that is controversial. The main reason a person suffer from gender Identity is because their gender does not fit their external makeup. In Saralyns’ article she exposes the concealed inner theory and the inconsistency and undermine in its apparent meaning or unanimity. The author also state that “These diagnosis leads to stigmatisms and results in stress, this is why some people reject the diagnosis of GID” (Russell, 2013). Transsexual theories have been around since 1966, however none of them seem seems fit or respect the individual’s identity diagnosis.…

    • 1483 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    For people who don’t know what gender they are, who have the “wrong” genitalia for their gender, or for females, sayings like these can be devastating and demoralizing to hear from a friend or loved one. Not everyone is born with 10 fingers and 10 toes, and for an unlucky few these birth defects must seem like a small imposition. Those who are born intersex have altered combinations of male and female physical features. Genetic males can be born with ‘normal’ hormones and testicles, but without a penis or with a smaller one (David Myers, 2014). For these people, the line drawn by society can be blurry and it can be difficult to tell where they belong, “One study reviewed 14 cases of boys who had undergone early sex-reassignment surgery and had been raised as girls.…

    • 758 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Starting with functional theory, sexual identity is “learned in the family and other social institutions, with deviant sexual identities contributing to social disorder”. Under conflict theory, individuals or specific institutions consider some forms of sexual behavior desirable therefore enforce heterosexism; while symbolic interaction theory views it as “socially constructed when people learn the sexual scripts produced in society” (Andersen,…

    • 1403 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Non-Binary and Transgender People When a child is born the first thing their parents hear is, “Congratulations it’s a girl,” or “Congratulations it’s a boy”. Already trying to enforce the idea that there are only two genders the moment they take their first breath. JAC Stringer of the Heartland Trans* Wellness Group defined, gender binary as the cultural belief of only two genders existing and they have to correspond to the appropriate sex. This social construct is iterated on a daily basis whether it is through medical institutions, language or applications. As a result of its dominance in society, the gender binary system is highly exclusive towards non-binary and transgender people.…

    • 1097 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Upon learning this information, one can now look into behavioral differences between the sexes. When speaking on differences of personality/behavior between the two binary sexes, people tend to focus on the idea that men are more “aggressive” than women because of testosterone. However, how does one truly know that one person is more aggressive or less aggressive than another? Yet alone, if one sex is more aggressive. While discussing this topic, it is important to note that when you “Remove the source of testosterone in a species the aggression goes down.…

    • 700 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Our issues go right to our genetics, DNA, physiology and biological. Many people don’t realize that being born with an intersex condition, you have issues that no one in a normal society would not understand. No one wouldn’t know what it’s like to be intersex and…

    • 1008 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Transgender and intersexed are not what one thinks of when contemplating about societies overall interpretation of gender definitions. Transgender meaning that one?s gender expression does not match their assigned sex and intersex being person who is born with a reproductive or sexual anatomy that does not fit the definition of female or male. The biological body is stereotypically assumed to be a single organically combined natural object. It is very difficult to find good information in intersexuals. Most of the recent studies of this issue suffer from the same problems as between the sexes, felling as if they don?t do enough research or they take from too small of a sampling.…

    • 534 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Sex testing was first introduced to the Olympic Games by Avery Brundage in 1936, in order to halt any athletes trying to disguise their sexual identity. The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and International Olympic Committee (IOC) have sex-control policies in place on the terms that; sex exists as a binary, sport is a level playing field and intersex athletes have an unfair advantage over others and should be banned. However this logic is not as straight forward as it seems. Overall, sex testing is invasive and can have severe impacts on women who are subjected to them as history has shown. Sex is a biological construct where genetic factors such as chromosomes, hormones and reproductive organs differentiate between male and female.…

    • 877 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The evolutionary and ethnographic world offers an intriguing diversity of cultural constructions of gender. Essentially all societies show some amount of difference between women and men. The thoughts of gender fluidity are also correlative by studies of sexual variation. When both are compared, they give persuasive discussions about the cultural construction of both gender and sexuality. Anthropologists must investigate…

    • 766 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Me, My Sex, and I Me, My Sex and I was an enlightening documentary about extraordinary people that deal with some variation of DSD ( disorders of sexual development ). DSD covers a multitude of sexual variations and disorders. An example of what a disorder might look like would be a baby born that looks like a rosy cheeked baby girl on the exterior, but has male genetics. The same applies to a baby born looking like a bouncing baby boy, but has internal female anatomy. Starting at conception our parents decide our DNA.…

    • 1127 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In our modern times with ever-changing attitudes, it is becoming more important to distinguish between sex and gender. Sociologists describe sex as the biological differences between a male and a female, particularly anatomically and physiologically (Newman, 2016). Moreover, it helps to explain the genitalia differences, as well as our differences in hormones. Some may see sex as more difficult to define – it is not as easy as black and white – and may be seen as something continuous instead, rather than only male and female.…

    • 911 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays