Q:I might be a hermaphrodite, but how would I know for sure? What does intersex mean?A:
About one in a hundred people are born with biological differences from the standard male/female anatomy. Intersex is a term for someone whose body does not fit neatly into society's definition of male and female. This may be noticed when a person is born, or later on or sometimes not at all unless the person has exams or tests for other medical reasons, and it is discovered unexpectedly.
In the past the word hermaphrodite was also used to describe people like this, but today many people prefer to use the word intersex. (Intersex is a different from being transgender, gay or lesbian.)
An intersex person's anatomy is different than what society expects. A person might look female on the outside, but have mostly male organs on the inside. Or a person might have sex chromosomes that are different than expected.
For instance, an intersex person may looks male, but have typically female chormosomes (XX), or a mixture (xxy), or even have XX chromosomes in some cells in their body and XY in others.
Other intersex persons may have genitals at birth that differ from the standard male or female types our society expects. For instance a penis that is a lot smaller than usual, or a clitoris that is a lot larger, or sometimes a combination of both parts.
About one in a hundred people are born with biological differences from the standard male/female anatomy. That's a lot! But because our society thinks of sex in terms of one of two choices--male or female--about 5 children in the U.S. every day actually undergo operations to try to make their sex organs look more like they fit into one of these two categories.
Surgery can be risky. Not only is it complicated, but it is usually just cosmetic only.
That means the doctor must make a guess at what sex the child would like to be. And, usually this is done to infants before they can talk with their families and their doctors about how they feel and what they'd like to have happen. In the past, families with intersex children were discouraged from talking about this at all. Doctors thought it was best not to talk about it--to just do surgery and act like nothing had happened. They thought that would make it easier, but it caused a lot of shame and secrecy instead.
Intersex people have recently begun talking together with each other, and speaking out about how they feel about these surgeries and about being intersex in a world that doesn't quite understand that yet.
You can find out more information through these links:
