Intersexuals
A Voice That Needs To Be Heard.
by James Lehman
Recently I saw just the tail end of a report on Dateline NBC
about a group called ISNA, The Intersex Society of North
America. I was deeply moved.
I hope that this does not offend anyone who is intersexual,
but for as long as I have known that I am gay, I've always thought
that the natural occurrence of hermaphrodites was proof that
human sexuality is very spectral and not simply a matter of
male/female. My body is completely male, as are my hormones,
and I would assume my brain, but I am sexually attracted to other
men. I don't think that I have the misplaced sexuality of a women
at all. I was born a gay man; a naturally occurring variation of
human life.
There are people who are born with differences in the
formation of their genitals that either indicate the presence of
both sexes, or are considered to be inappropriate for the
assumed sex of the child. How many? Much like getting an
accurate percentage of gays to straights, that is a very hard
question to answer because of the social stigma involved.
Estimates range from 0.2% to 15%, with some saying the best
guess is between 8% and 10% of all children born. I think the
wide variation comes from what is and what is not considered to
be in the intersex birth definition.
There are quite a few reasons why children are born
intersexual. Some cases are hereditary. Some are spontaneous
genetic mutations, and some were caused while the infant was
still in the womb and the mother had taken Progestin, a drug that
was supposed to help a woman prevent miscarriage. Just to
clear up any possible confusion, there is no such thing as a child
born with a complete set of reproductive organs of both sexes. In
most cases, while the fetus is developing in the womb, there is
some reason that she/he does not respond in a typical way to the
cascade of hormones that would cause the formation of the sex
organs that would match the child's sex chromosomes. Some
intersex children are born who would mature into adults capable
of reproduction and some would not produce either eggs or
sperm.
In some cases, it is in the interest of good health to
surgically correct the difference. Sometimes the child is at great
risk of constant discomfort or chronic urinary infections that
might destroy the bladder and kidneys. But in many cases, the
physical health of the child is at no risk at all. The issue of
genitalia is purely cosmetic.
The current belief of the medical community (established in
the '50s) states that since people are so male/female oriented,
that everyone must appear to be exclusively male or female and
that children with
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